Asalanka introduced Hasaranga in the 18th over, partly because finally a right-hander had arrived at the crease. Litton Das fell lbw for a duck to the legspinner’s second ball. Litton has now failed to reach double-figures in his last eight ODIs, stretching back to December 2023. It was his fourth duck too, in these eight innings.

Two balls later, the set batter Tanzid played a poor shot against Hasaranga, hanging back to blast him to mid-off. Liyanage took a brilliant catch, diving high to his right. Tanzid made 62 off 61 balls, with nine fours and a six.

Kamindu then bowled the best delivery of this collapse, getting his left-arm spin to zip through Towhid Hridoy’s defensive push. New captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz was next to go, trapped lbw by Hasaranga’s googly, falling for a duck in the next over.

Kamindu then took a brace in the 21st over. First he removed Tanzim Hasan, when Maheesh Theekshana caught him at short midwicket nicely. Kamindu switched to right-arm offbreaks, and had Taskin Ahmed trapped lbw, to make it 105 for 8.

Theekshana then got Tanvir caught behind before Jaker Ali’s  51, with four sixes and as many fours, reduced Bangladesh’s margin of defeat to less than 100 runs.

Earlier, Asalanka held the Sri Lanka innings together after he decided to bat first. The left-hander struck six fours and four sixes in his 106 off 123 balls, but had little support at the other end. He crossed 1,000 runs at the R Premadasa Stadium where he stands level with Sanath Jayasuriya, Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar after scoring his fourth century at the venue.

Asalanka’s knock was critical to Sri Lanka getting out of trouble after they slipped to 29 for 3 in the seventh over. Tanzim removed Pathum Nissanka for a duck, before Taskin got Nishan Madushka to drag his away-going delivery to his stumps.

Taskin then had Kamindu caught at mid-off, also for a duck, as Bangladesh felt they were on top. They controlled the scoring rate during the 60-run fourth wicket stand between Kusal Mendis and Asalanka. Debutant Tanvir had Mendis lbw for 45, leaving Asalanka with a lot of recovery still left to do.

He added 64 runs for the fifth wicket with Liyanage, who eventually struck one down long-off’s throat after making 29 off 40 balls and followed it with a 39-run stand for the sixth wicket with Rathnayake.

Asalanka forged on, hitting some nice shots but mostly batting as the innings anchor. He added 34 with Hasaranga, and while there wasn’t much pace to the partnerships, it held Sri Lanka in place.

Taskin removed Hasaranga and Theekshana in the same over before Asalanka reached his century in the 48th over. Looking at the final scorecard, Sri Lanka would be grateful that their captain never gave up despite the wickets falling regularly at the other end.

Brief scores:  
Sri Lanka 244 in 49.2 overs (Charith Asalanka 106, Kusal Mendis 45, Janith Liyanage 29, Milan Rathnayake 22, Wanindu Hasaranga. Taskin Ahmed  4-47, Tanzim Hasan Sakib 3-46)  beat Bangladesh 167 in 35.5 overs (Tanzid  Hassan 62, Najmul Hossain Sahnto 23, Jaker Ali 51; Wanidu Hasaranga 4-10, Kamindu Mendis 3-19) by 77 runs

[Cricinfo]