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Sadeera, Matheesha and Asalanka star in big win
Rex Clementine at Pallekele
There were doubts about how Sri Lanka’s depleted bowling attack will go about things in the Asia Cup, but the backup bowlers came up with a splendid performance in their opening encounter yesterday at Pallekele helping Sri Lanka to a seven wicket win over Bangladesh.
Hometown boy Matheesha Pathirana was sensational finishing with four wickets providing early breakthroughs and then coming back for a last spell to destroy the tail as Bangladesh were bowled out for 164 runs with five overs to spare.
Sadeera Samarawickrama then smashed a half-century to help Sri Lanka to a comfortable win with 11 overs to spare. He was joined by Charith Asalanka, who posted an unbeaten 62.
Sri Lanka lost the top three wickets for 43 runs but Sadeera along with Asalanka added 78 runs for the fourth wicket to see Sri Lanka through without any alarms.
It was Sadeera’s fourth half-century in ODIs. He was stumped for 54 but by that stage, the job was nearly done. Asalanka completed his ninth ODI fifty.
Pathirana claimed the big wicket of Shakib-al-Hasan, who was well caught by Kusal Mendis for five. He then had the dangerman Mushfiqur Rahim for 13 in his second spell. The former captain cut one uppishly, but the pace was too much and was caught at third man boundary.
The tail had no clue when Pathirana came for one last spell with both Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman falling for ducks.
Shanaka held back Pathirana without going on the attack all out and perhaps had he used him earlier, Bangladesh would have folded early.
Things would have looked even worse for Bangladesh had Sri Lanka held on to their chances.
Matheesha was well backed up by Maheesh Theekshana, who picked up a wicket in his first over and ended with two for 19.
Opposition batters had no clue against Theekshana unable to pick his variations. Even the set Najmul Shanto, who top scored with 89 never looked comfortable against him and was eventually cleaned up triggering a sensational lower order collapse.
Shanto had been dropped on two by skipper Dasun Shanaka off the unlucky Kasun Rajitha, who bowled so well but failed to pick up a wicket. He was also lucky to survive on 64 as the umpire turned down a caught behind appeal off Pathirana. Sri Lanka had exhausted their reviews.
Sri Lanka’s fielding apart from the odd flaw looked sharp and a lot of effort seemed to have gone into this aspect, an area that has been pretty ordinary in the recent past.
Scorecard:
Bangladesh innings
Mohammad Naim c Nissanka b de Silva 16
Tanzid Hasan lbw b Theekshana 0
Najmul Shanto b Theekshana 89
Shakib-al-Hasan c Mendis b Pathirana 5
Towhid Hridoy lbw b Shanaka 20
Mushfiqur Rahim c Karunaratne b Pathirana 13
Mehidy Miraz run out 5
Mahedi Hasan lbw b Wellalage 6
Taskin Ahmed c Theekshana b Pathirana 0
Shoriful Islam not out 2
Mustafizur Rahman lbw b Pathirana 0
Extras: (lb 3m w 4, nb 1) 8
Total: (all out) 164
Overs: 44.5
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Hasan), 2-25 (Naim), 3-36 (Shakib), 4-95 (Hridoy), 5-127 (Mushfiqur), 6-141 (Miraz), 7-162 (Mahedi), 8-162 (Shanto), 9-164 (Taskin), 10-164 (Rahman).
Bowling: Kasun Rajitha 7-0-29-0 (w 1), Maheesh Theekshana 8-1-19-2, Dhananjaya de Silva 10-0-35-1, Matheesha Pathirana 7.4-0-32-4 (w 3), Wellalage 7-0-30-1 (nb 1), Shanaka 3-1-16-1.
Sri Lanka innings
Pathum Nissanka c Mushfiqur b Shoriful 14
Dimuth Karunaratne b Taskin 1
Kusal Mendis b Shakib 5
Sadeera Samarawickrama st Mushfiqur b Hasan 54
Charith Asalanka not out 62
Dhananjaya de Silva b Shakib 2
Dasun Shanaka not out 14
Extras: (b 2, lb 4, w 7) 13
Total: (for five wickets) 165
Overs: 39
Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Karunaratne), 2-15 (Nissanka), 3-43 (Mendis), 5-121 (Samarawickrama).
Did not bat: Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha and Matheesha Pathirana.
Bowling: Taskin Ahmed 7-1-34-1 (w 3), Shoriful Islam 4-0-23-1 (w 2), Shakib-al-Hasan 10-2-29-2 (w 1), Mustafizur Rahman 3-0-12-0 (w 1), Mehidy Miraz 5-0-26-0, Mahedi Hasan 10-0-35-1.
Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader, just over a week after the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , in joint United States-Israeli strikes that have.plunged the entire region into a sprawling war.
The 56-year-old, who will now be charged with leading the Islamic Republic through the biggest crisis in its 47-year history, was named by clerics as his father’s successor on Sunday.
Key leaders, Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the armed forces were quick to pledge their backing to the new leader.
Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, who has been tasked with steering Iran’s security strategy since the US and Israel launched their all-out offensive, called for unity around the new supreme leader.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf welcomed the choice, saying that following the new supreme leader was a “religious and national duty”.
Mojtaba Khamenei has never run for office or been subjected to a public vote, but has for decades been a highly influential figure in the inner circle of the supreme leader, cultivating deep ties to the IRGC.
In recent years, Khamenei has increasingly been touted as a top potential replacement for his father. His selection could be a sign that more hardline factions in Iran’s establishment retain power, and could indicate that the government has little desire to agree to a deal or negotiations in the short term as the war enters its second week.
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem described Khamenei as his “father’s gatekeeper”.
“He adopts the positions of his father with respect to the United States, with respect to Israel. So we are expecting a confrontational leader. We’re not expecting any moderation,” he said.
“However, if this war comes to an end and he is still alive, and he is able to continue running the country, there is going to be big potential… to find new routes for Iran,” Hashem said.
(Aljazeera)
Global oil prices have jumped above $100 (£75.11) a barrel for the first time since 2022 as the escalating US-Israeli war with Iran has fuelled fears of prolonged disruption to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran on Sunday named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader, signalling that a week into the conflict hardliners remain in charge of the country.
The US and Israel launched fresh waves of airstrikes across Iran over the weekend, hitting multiple targets including oil depots.
Major disruption to energy supplies from the region threatens to push up prices for consumers and businesses around the world.
Early on Monday in Asia, Brent crude was around 15.5% higher at $107.16, while Nymex light sweet was up by more than 17% at $106.77.
Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region fell sharply in early trading on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index down by more than 5% and the ASX 200 in Australia more than 3.5% lower.
Many in the markets predicted that oil would hit the $100 a barrel mark this week.
In the event it took about a minute to jump 10%, and then another 15 minutes to rise a further 10% in early Asian trading.
Last week the markets had been relatively relaxed about the seeming nightmare scenario for millions of barrels of crude and liquefied natural gas trapped in the Gulf, unable or unwilling to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
But the escalations over the weekend, alongside scenes of destruction of energy infrastructure both in Iran and across the Gulf, saw the markets take rapid fright.
The question now is where does this go? Some analysts argue that if the shutdown in the strait lasts until the end of March, we could see record oil prices above $150 a barrel.
The existing rise is likely to further increase petrol prices, and those of important derivative products such as jet fuel and vital precursors for fertilisers.
The physical supplies from the Gulf are mainly consumed in Asia.
Already however there are signs that Asian consumers are bidding up prices for US gas, with some tankers originally heading for Europe turning around in the mid-Atlantic.
US President Donald Trump responded to the jump in prices by saying that short term rises were a “small price to pay” for removing Iran’s nuclear threat.
His energy secretary told US broadcasters on Sunday that Israel, not the US, was targeting Iran’s energy infrastructure, amid some concern about rising domestic pump prices caused by the war.
(BBC)
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