Sri Lanka knock out Bangladesh from Asia Cup 2023 final race with an emphatic 21-run win in Super Fours

Sri Lanka's first game in the Asia Cup 2023 Super Fours was on September 9 in Colombo, where they beat Bangladesh by 21 runs. This knocked Shakib Al Hasan's team out of the event.

Bangladesh's first Super Four match was against the hosts, Pakistan, and they lost. If they lose again, they won't be able to make it to the final three teams that will play in the final match.

Sri Lanka's bowlers were fast from the start because they knew they had to defend a pretty average score of 257 runs. After the powerplay, they got the first wicket, but once they broke the combination, the islanders knew they could really hurt Bangladesh's middle order.

After taking the first wicket in the 12th over, Sri Lanka took two more in less than four overs, bringing Bangladesh's score down to 70/3. The captain, Shakib Al Hasan, was the biggest loss.

Dasun Shanaka, the captain of Sri Lanka, led the reaction with the ball. He took two of the first three wickets, and Shakib was taken out by Matheesha Pathirana, a young player who MS Dhoni found to be a prodigy.

After that, the spin bowlers got into the game. Dunith Wellalage took out Litton Das, who was the most important batsman.

Mushfqur Rahim and Towhid Hriday then put together a 72-run partnership for the fourth wicket, and it looked like Bangladesh was making a nice little return to upset Sri Lanka's apple cart.

Shanaka broke up another big team that was becoming a threat to Sri Lanka, just like he did with the first pair. After that, he went back to his bank in Maheesh Theekshana, and the spinner gave him the ball.

Theekshana took out three batsmen in 2.3 overs. One of them was Hriday, who scored 82 runs and played very well. Bangladesh was 8 down for 200 when Theekshana broke the game open. Nasum Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud did their best, but the goal was too far away for them to catch up to.

Sadeera Samarawickrama had helped Sri Lanka reach 250 with a great 93 off 72 balls. Samarawickrama's runs deserve more attention because the second-highest strike rate for a player who played more than 30 balls was 75, and he was batting at 129 on a surface that made it hard to make strokes, especially against slower bowlers. On Tuesday, September 12, Sri Lanka will play India in their second Asia Cup Super Fours game.