COLOMBO: Bangladesh skipper Liton Das says his team’s first ever T20 series win in Sri Lanka has been “huge” for his leadership and made the cricket-crazy fans back home happy.

Bangladesh hammered Sri Lanka by eight wickets on Wednesday in Colombo to clinch the three-match series 2-1 and cap off their tour of the island nation on a high.

Chasing a modest 133 for victory, Bangladesh rode on opener Tanzid Hasan’s unbeaten 73 to achieve their target with 21 balls to spare at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

Spinner Mahedi Hasan set up victory with figures of 4-11 to restrict Sri Lanka to 132-7 after the hosts elected to bat first.

“It is a proud moment for me as a captain,” Liton said. “I am happy that the fans are also happy seeing us win a T20 series in Sri Lanka.”

Liton, who was named Bangladesh T20 skipper until next year’s World Cup in India, led the T20 team in the absence of Najmul Hossain Shanto last year in a 3-0 series sweep in the West Indies.

“Both series wins are huge for me,” said Liton, who was named player of the series for his 114 runs in the three matches. “Beating the West Indies in their back yard is massive. They are a strong team in their conditions. It is the same in Sri Lanka. They are a balanced team too.”

Sri Lanka, led by Charith Asalanka, won the ODI series 2-1 followed by victory in the opening T20 before they lost two straight matches by big margins.

“We are bitterly disappointed,” said Asalanka. “We probably made a blunder at the toss. When I came on to bowl, I realised that the wicket had improved.

“We need to take responsibility for the way we batted. It can happen in one game but this happening in back-to-back games is a huge concern.

“The World Cup is just seven months away and we can’t let these things happen. Credit to Bangladesh.

“They outperformed us. They fielded better than us and their bowlers were more effective than ours. Their batsmen also had clear plans.”

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2025