COLOMBO, Sept 2: Sri Lanka rode on Upul Tharanga’s maiden century to clinch a one-day series against Bangladesh with an emphatic 75-run victory in the second match here on Friday. The left-handed opener hammered a robust 105 in only his fifth match to help Sri Lanka post a massive 295-5. He cracked nine fours in his 110-ball knock after being dropped on 13.
Bangladesh, who lost the opening game of the three-match series by 88 runs on Wednesday, could never pose a threat to Sri Lanka’s total before finishing at 220-6 to suffer their second successive defeat.
Opener Shahriar Nafees top-scored with 51, while skipper Habibul Bashar (41 not out) and super-sub Tushar Imran (31) put on 71 for the sixth wicket but their efforts were not enough to stop Sri Lanka.
Part-time spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan was the most successful bowler with three wickets for 17 runs off seven overs.
“I am delighted at the way Tharanga played,” said Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu.
“He has a lot of potential and scored a lot of runs for junior teams. It is really nice he got a century early in his career.”
Bangladesh’s Bashar conceded his team needed to bat better in the third and final one-dayer here on Sunday.
“All credit to Sri Lanka for playing so well,” he said.
“They bowled really well. We started okay but became slow in the middle overs because of (Muttiah) Muralitharan. There have been some positives for us in the series, but we must bat better.”
Tharanga, 20, held centre-stage in the morning session with his impressive century.
The young opener, who made an unbeaten hundred in a practice match against the tourists and a half-century in the first one-dayer, continued to relish the attack with a wide range of strokes.
Sri Lanka made a blazing start after being sent to bat on an easy-paced pitch as Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya (40) put on an exact 100 for the opening wicket in 15 overs.
The hosts also finished strongly as Atapattu made merry with an unbeaten 53 off 43 balls for his second successive half-century.
Tharanga outscored even the hard-hitting Jayasuriya in the initial overs as he kept finding gaps to keep pressure on the Bangladeshi fielders.
Jayasuriya hit one six and five fours before being caught behind off seamer Nazmul Hossain.
Bangladesh, who dropped four catches in the first match, were yet again let down by fielders as Manjural Rana let off Tharanga at second slip off paceman Tapash Baisya when the batsman was on 13.
The tourists paid dearly for the lapse as Tharanga continued to consolidate his team’s position. He put on 71 for the second wicket with Dilshan, who scored a painstaking 59-ball 27 without a boundary.
Tharanga was stumped while attempting a big shot off spinner Rana, but not before putting his team in a strong position.
SCOREBOARD
SRI LANKA:
U. Tharanga st Mashud b Rana 105
S. Jayasuriya c Mashud b Hossain 40
T. Dilshan c Omar b Rafique 27
M. Atapattu not out 53
K. Sangakkara c Rana b Rafique 28
D. Lokuhettige lbw b Rasel 2
M. Jayawardene not out 23
Extras (b1, lb6, nb4, w6) 17
Total (for five wkts, 50 overs) 295
Fall of wkts: 1-100, 2-171, 3-194, 4-245, 5-252.
Bowling: Baisya 10-0-71-0, Rasel 10-1-49-1, Hossain 6.1-0-47-1, Rana 10-0-47-1, Rafique 10-0-47-2, Ahmed 3.5-0-27-0.
Bangladesh:
J. Omar c Atapattu b Vaas 18
S. Nafees c Muralitharan b Dilshan 51
A. Ahmed b Muralitharan 18
M. Ashraful c Chandana b Dilshan 31
M. Rafique c and b Dilshan 9
H. Bashar not out 41
T. Imran b Lokuhettige 31
K. Mashud not out 2
Extras (b2, lb3, nb6, w8) 19
Total (for six wkts, 50 overs) 220
Fall of wkts: 1-38, 2-77, 3-122, 4-137, 5-140, 6-211.
Bowling: Vaas 6-1-15-1, Lokuhettige 7-0-31-1, Fernando 7-0-44-0, Arnold 2-0-10-0, Muralitharan 10-0-48-1, Dilshan 7-1-17-3, Chandana (sub for Jayasuriya) 10-0-44-0, Jayawardene 1-0-6-0.
Note: Tushar Imran (BAN) sub for Nazmul Hossain
Result: Sri Lanka win by 75 runs
Man-of-the-match: Upul Tharanga (SRI)
Toss: Bangladesh
Umpires: Asad Rauf (PAK) and Tyron Wijewardene (SRI)
TV umpire: Asoka de Silva (SRI)
Match-referee: Clive Lloyd (WIS)
Third one-dayer: At Colombo on Sunday — AFP