Sadeera Samarawickrama's jubilant late show took hosts Sri Lanka to 257/9 in 50 overs against Bangladesh in a Super Four stage of the Asia Cup 2023 here on Friday. After the early fall of wickets, Sadeera came at No.3 and batted till the end of the innings as he got his highest One-Day International score of 93 off 72 deliveries.
Even though Bangladesh's pacers caused the majority of the damage, the surface appeared to be slow, making it challenging to play the spinners. The well-positioned Nissanka and Kusal Mendis (50) were removed by Soriful Islam in consecutive overs, Taskin Ahmed, and, Hasan Mahmud, who also contributed with three wickets each.
After losing an early wicket -- that of Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis and Dimuth Karunaratne held the inning and added 74 runs on the board. Mendis soon reached his 23rd ODI half-century but soon got out to Shoriful.
Sadeera came to bat and started his inning well; The Lankans lost their way as wickets started tumbling down. Sadeera reached his fourth half-century and took charge of the Sri Lankan innings. He played some aerial shots all around the ground and took Sri Lanka to 257/9 which looks like a decent target.
Sadeera in the mid-inning said, "When I went to bat it was not easy at all. We really struggled to get runs but Pathum and Kusal gave us a good start. I just wanted to go there and rotate the strike and keep the momentum for the side.
“It was really hard to play shots, so I planned to play late. I think spinners were more challenging. I think the past few days it was raining so the wicket was raining so that's the reason it's a bit slow. Really happy [with the score]. It's not a 280-300 kind of a pitch," he concluded.
Brief score:
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Sri Lanka: 257/9 in 50 overs (Sadeera Samarawickrama 93, Kusal Mendis 50; Taskin Ahmed 3-63, Hasan Mahmud 3-57) against Bangladesh.