World Cup 2015 Match 18 Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh review

World Cup 2015 Match 18 Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh review: The match between the two Asian teams turned out as it was supposed to be. SriLanka made a big score; Bangladesh tried and tried ultimately failing to win a match against a Test nation other than Zimbabwe in recent World Cup memory.

Sri Lanka batted first after winning the toss on a nice Melbourne pitch on a beautiful day. Their openers Tillkakaratne Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne responded to the occasion and strung together a 122 runs partnership, before Thirimanne fell to Rubel Hossain for 52. After that Sangakkara and Dilshan made sure no more casualties occurred and scored 210 runs together to take Sri Lanka to 322/1 after 50 overs. It is the highest score any team has made after losing just 1 wicket in World Cup in 50 completed overs.

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Tillakaratne Dilshan especially batted like a man on mission scoring 161*, his highest score in ODIs hitting 22 fours but surprisingly no six. This was an innings of restraint and extreme concentration coming from a man known for the innovative ‘DilScoop’ shot. On the other side, Kumar Sangakkara who was playing his 400th ODI (4th to do so) decided to celebrate it in style hitting 105 off 76 balls with 13 fours and 1 six. His hundred came off 73 balls, his fastest so far in ODIs.

The Bangladeshi bowlers had no answer to the experienced duo and all of them went for runs. Taskin Ahmed went for 82 in his 10, Rubel the sole wicket taker went for 62 in his 9 and Shakib went for 52 in his 10. Sri Lanka’s total of 332/1 is the highest total to involve just 1 six.

Bangladesh’s reply began by losing Tamim Iqbal to Lasith Malinga on the 2nd ball of the innings. Players like Anamul Haque (29), Soumya Sarkar (25), Mahmudullah (28), Mushfiqur Rahim (36) all got in, but couldn’t go all the way and take Bangladesh to victory.  Sabbir Rahman completed his half century (53) before falling to Malinga. Bangladesh could only muster 240 runs in their 50 overs.

SriLankan bowling was spot on with bowlers attacking the batsmen and looking for wickets at all times. Malinga took 3/35, Suranga Lakmal 2/49 and Tillakaratne Dilshan chipped in with 2/35 to go with his 161*. SriLanka won the match by 92 runs.

Tillakaratne Dilshan was named the Man of the match for his 161* and 2/35.

SriLanka will now go on to face England in a very tough match, while Bangladesh will face Scotland who came very close to winning their first World Cup match against Afghanistan in the first match of the day.

Brief Scores:
SriLanka 332/1 (T Dilshan 161*, K Sangakkara 105*;R Hossain 1/62) defeated Bangladesh 240 47 overs (S Rahman 53, S Al Hasan 46; L Malinga 3/35) by 92 runs.