Bangladesh won by 23 runs

BAN 147/7 (20.0 Ovs)

SL 124/8 (20.0 Ovs)

Bangladesh won by 23 runs

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Sabbir Rahman

A good win for Bangladesh then, their first over the Islanders in this format. What this does among other things is that it raises their stock considerably. On the other hand, Sri Lanka continue to flounder. Just can't seem to settle in on a formula. Need to pull their socks quickly from here. Anyway, that's it from us for today. Tomorrow will see Pakistan squaring off against UAE. See you then. Cheers!

Mortaza: "Very important win. We have been struggling in T20Is, so a good one going forward. The wicket was pretty good to bat on but with 147, you can fight it out. It was on the slower side. Shakib played a good role but Sabbir Rahman was phenomenal. These boys are making my job easy and hopefully we can keep going."

Rahman: "Big opportunity it was for me after the first wicket went early. Stuck to my strengths and played positively. Just rotated strike and played to my strengths."

Sabbir Rahman is Man of the Match for his superb knock of 80 off 54 balls

Mathews: "We made a real game out of it. Should have just milked it around. After the initial start, we lost our way. Credit to the Bangladeshi bowlers who came hard and fought well. The options we took weren't very good. Unfortunately, we lost wickets consistently. Our bowlers had done a good job to restrict them under 150 on a wicket which was a good one to bat. Yes, the ball was sticking occasionally but it still was a good one. We have to be patient with the youngsters, it's a learning curve. All seniors need to take responsibility. I haven't been batting very well too. Hopefully we can pull ourselves up."

Hunting down 148 against Dhaka-backed hosts and on a pitch sans a Movember just doesn't eventualize every fortnight. And it fell short by a country mile tonight. Chandimal was rewarded a life with a first-over drop in the slips and he did ride on his luck-wheels to run-a-ball 37. Chandimal and Jayasuriya then threatened but a 56-run partnership was just too short-lived to parry Sri Lanka over. Dilshan's marooned form stayed long distanced, this time courtesy a Soumya Sarkar stunner, and Chandimal's terminally cute switch-hit only opened the floodgates. Sri Lanka panicked with every rising decibel, runs dried for as long as 7 overs after the half-way mark and Mustafizur resultingly rolled his wrists to frugal figures of 1/19. Mathews' wicket all but lidded off the fight and some late order assaults from Shanaka were relegated to impotent entertainment. A big shoulder-ramping win this for Bangladesh.

Just the sheer delight on those faces. The raw emotions of a young team getting a taste of success. So good to watch. "That's a very good confidence booster going into the Pakistan game and we'll play with confidence there as well," says an upbeat Mahmudullah. He has a word for the crowd as well "Thank you very much, keep supporting us." Yes, the crowd has been brilliant. Kept buzzing right through and were right behind their team.