By Brian Thomas
Bangladesh outplayed Sri Lanka in all departments of the game and created history by comprehensively beating SriLanka by 8 wickets with 21 balls in the bank.
Making two changes to the playing eleven, eye brows were raised as to why Sri Lanka opted to bat when records indicated that teams batting second have won 7 of the last 9 games incidently, Asalanka admitted that he read the surface wrong at the post match awards ceremony.
Bangladesh, having dismissed Kusal Mendis for 6 runs in the very first over, introduced the spin of Mehedy Hassan immediately.
The off spinner Mehedy was clinical , spun a web around the hapless Sri Lankan batters , claiming a career best of 4 for 11 that also won him the man of the match award playing in his very first game here in Sri Lanka.
It was appaling to note that the Sri Lankan batters never used their feet against quality off spin and could muster only 132 runs for 7 wickets in 20 overs.
Pathum Nissanka made 46 but looked tentative against the off spin of Mehedy Hassan and was out playing a nothing shot.
Kamindu Mendis, who looked promising in getting to 21 , threw his wicket away, playing an unwarranted reverse sweep with the last recognised pair at the wickets with Dasun Shanaka at the non strikers end. This is lack of match awareness.
Dasun Shanaka saved the embarrassment of coach Sanath Jayasuriya and his batting coach by scoring 22 runs in the final over for Sri Lanka to get to a total of 132.
Mehedy Hassan was brilliant 4 for 11 , Mustafizur Rahaman unplayable 1 for 17 , this indicates that Sri Lanka has a massive crack to address in their batting unit.
Bangladesh was super on the field , excellent ground fielding backing up their bowlers with exquisite catching as well.
Bangladesh had no issues getting to the target. Sri Lanka spinners were cartered to all parts of the park by Tanzid Hassan, who was unbeaten on 73 in 47 deliveries with 6 maximums and just 1 boundary and a strike rate of 154.31
Man of the series Litton Das made 32 also skippered his team to a perfect game plan.
Towhid Hridoy remained unbeaten on 27.
Mahesh Theekshana had a miserable day in the park . Got cartered for 30 runs in 3.3 overs , missing easy catches to him seems a habit.
Vandersay was cartered for 27 in his 4 over spell , but at least he spun a few off the pitch, which gripped and turned.
Look, coach Sanath Jayasuriya has to get back to the drawing board with his players , Thilina Kandamby has to do extra net sessions with his batting unit , whilst Upul Chandana the fielding coach has his work cut out with this squad.
Well played, Bangladesh richly deserved the crown , definitely the better team on the park.
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