Sri Lanka crush Bangladesh to enter final by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla
Scorecard:	Sri Lanka v Bangladesh
Player:	Tamim Iqbal, TM Dilshan, WU Tharanga
Event:	Asia Cup 2010

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DateLine: 18th June 2010

 

Sri Lanka demolished a hapless Bangladeshi side as they crushed the latter by a huge margin of 126 runs. Sri Lanka also collected a bonus point and in the process have virtually entered the final of Asia Cup 2010. Dilshan was the star of the match as he scored a quick-fire fifty and then took three cheap wickets to push Bangladesh out of the competition.

 

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first and it was a no-brainer.

 

Upul Tharanga and Dilshan set off like a runaway train as they smashed the Bangladeshi bowlers to smithereens with a scintillating opening partnership of 111 in 15.5 overs. Nothing went right for the Bangladeshi skipper as the openers countered each and every bowling change effectively. Though Dilshan fell in the sixteenth over but the run flow never stopped. Sangakkara chipped in with a half-century while Jayawardene and Mathews contributed to the cause of the team with well-paced forties.

 

Sri Lanka in their quota of 50 overs scored 312 for the loss of 4 wickets.

 

Bangladesh in reply stayed afloat due to some blistering hitting from Tamim Iqbal at the top of the order. As long as the left-hander was at the crease anything seemed possible for Bangladesh as the visitors stayed well within the required run-rate.

 

But then the Lankan bowlers did well to pick up wickets at regular intervals with Dilshan leading the way. The part-time off-spinner removed three Bangladeshi wickets to break the back of the Bangladeshi chase. The Bangladeshi side in the end collapsed to 186 in 42.2 overs.