Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by two-wicket to qualify for Super 4 phase by chasing their second-highest-ever T20 total

In a see-saw battle, Sri Lanka managed to scrape into the Super Fours with a sensational two-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the ongoing Asia Cup.

In their must-win last Group B game, the Sri Lankans had broken one too many records. They held their nerves to record their second-highest successful run-chase in a T20I. Interestingly, their highest chase is also against Bangladesh, when they chased down 194 at Mirpur in 2018.

It was also the highest successfully chased target in the UAE. The previous record was held by Afghanistan against UAE in Dubai in 2016. Afghans have then chased down 180 against the UAE.

Interestingly, Sri Lanka also ended their six-match losing streak in Asia Cups, their first win since beating UAE in 2016.

In their last six encounters, Sir Lanka have lost twice to Afghanistan and Bangladesh



and one time each to India and Pakistan.

In their opening match against Afghanistan, Sri Lanka succumbed to an eight-wicket loss.

Bangladesh had only themselves to blame for their ill-disciplined bowling, conceding eight wide balls and four no-balls to ruin the early good work of their batters.

“Death bowling is something we are looking to improve and that has cost us the game,” Bangladesh’s skipper Shakib Al Hasan said. “The last two overs they were eight down, needed to get 17-18 runs and they got with a lot of balls to spare.”

Fast bowler Ebadot Hossain (3-51), one of the three changes Bangladesh made from its last defeat against Afghanistan, did the early damage through his sharp short-pitched deliveries, but conceded 17 runs in the penultimate over that included a boundary off a no-ball.