Tigers fall short in Malinga’s farewell

The guard of honour from the vanquished Bangladesh team to give one last send-off to legendary fast Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga said it all. The day and the night belonged to a champion who walked off the ground with head held high at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday.

Malinga made his last ODI memorable with an outstanding bowling display as Sri Lanka, boosted by Kusal Perera’s blistering hundred, gifted the fast bowler a perfect farewell as the home side clinched a comfortable 91-run win over Bangladesh in the first of three ODIs.

The 35-year-old was as venomous as he has been over the course of a 15-year career for Sri Lanka and ended up with figures of three for 38 from 9.4 overs, including two maidens, as Bangladesh were bowled out for 223 runs with fifty balls to spare chasing a big target of 315.

It was undoubtedly Malinga’s day as he took the final wicket of Mustafizur Rahman and looked up at the heavens to thank the Almighty for his achievements over an illustrious career.

It was hard to tell that Malinga was playing his last ODI because he was as dangerous in the early exchanges as he had ever been. He dismissed Tamim Iqbal for a duck with a perfect inswinging yorker that the left-hander fell over trying to defend, but still could not protect his stumps.

Things went from bad to worse for the Tigers as Mohammad Mithun was next to depart for 10 off the bowling of Nuwan Pradeep and Malinga once again came into the act when he bowled Soumya Sarkar with another yorker.

Mahmudullah Riyad also departed cheaply to leave the score on 39 for four. Sabbir Rahman and Mushfiqur Rahim then tried to hold the ship together with a 111-run fifth-wicket stand. But both Sabbir and Mushfiqur departed for sixties as the writing on the wall became clearer for Bangladesh.

Earlier, taking first guard Sri Lanka made a flying start riding on some serious hitting by Perera as the left-hander registered his fifth ODI ton in just 82 balls. The home side were at one point cruising on 200 for 2 in 31 overs.

Shafiul Islam, making a comeback to the ODI side after three years, provided the first breakthrough for the Tigers by dismissing Avishka Fernando with an edge to first slip. But skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Perera added 97 runs for the second wicket at a high scoring rate with a flurry of boundaries.

Karunaratne however was dismissed for 36 by Mehedi Hasan Miraz, but Perera was joined by Kusal Mendis and the pair continued to punish the toothless Bangladesh bowling attack.

Nothing seemed to go in favour of Bangladesh as stand-in captain Tamim Iqbal, on his debut as Bangladesh ODI skipper, looked helpless as the poor fielding only added to the visitors’ misery.

However, the Tigers managed to bounce back in the game after part-time medium-pacer Soumya Sarkar removed Perera for 111 off 99 balls, which featured 17 fours and a six.

Mendis showed great sportsmanship as he walked off despite the umpire being unmoved when the right-hander got a thin outside edge to Rubel Hossain when he was on 48, after Mahmudullah had dropped a rather simple chance with the batsman on 28.

Since then, Sri Lanka were unable to cash in on the blistering start. While at one point they seemed to be in line for a 350-plus score, the hosts ended up adding just 69 runs in the last 10 overs, losing four wickets with Lahiru Thirimanne adding 25 runs at the end to help post 314 for eight in 50 overs.

Shafiul remained the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh and ended up picking three for 62 from his nine overs, while Mustafizur Rahman took two wickets, but he too was expensive, conceding 75 runs from his 10 overs.