Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, Asia Cup 2023 Highlights: Fifties from Sadeera Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka help Sri Lanka defeat Bangladesh by 5 wickets

Mahedi Hasan in to bowl the next over and after 2 singles, Asalanka has finally broken the shackles and smashed the firest 6 of the night!!! SL 158/5 after 38 overs

Mehidy Hasan Miraz continues and Asalanka is on the verge of completing his own 50. can he do it in this over? Yes, he can as a fumble allows him to get to the milestone. Shanaka, maenwhile, smashes the 5th ball for a boundary. SL 150/5 after 37 overs 

Mahedi Hasan will bowl the next over and gives away 2 runs from the first five deliveries. Nothing off the last one as well as Sri Lanka need just 20 more. SL 145/5 after 36 overs

Mehidy Hasan Miraz will continue and gives away 2 from the first 3 balls. Great effort in the deep next to save a sureshot boundary. It'll be checked and yes, great save. Just 2. SL 143/5 after 35 overs

Mahedi Hasan in to bowl the 34th over and after 3 dots, Sri Lanka mines 4 runs from the remaining 3 deliveries. Trudging along. SL 138/5 after 34 overs.

Shakib in to bowl his last over of the match. Gives away 1 from the first 3 deliveries. add another 1 to the score as Shakib finishes his spell. SL 134/5 after 33 overs

Mahedi Hasan continues after drinks and Dasun Shanaka is the new man in. Asalanka, however, is on strike and he smashes a four off the fourth delivery. SL 132/5 after 32 overs

Shakib in to bowl his penultimate over of the match and Asalanka mines 2 from the first ball. The 3rd one also fetches 2 as Asalanka swings his bat, gets an edge and another brace. And he has taken a wicket in this over!! Dhananjaya is cleaned bowled after trying to go after Shakib. SL 128/5 after 31 overs

Mahedi Hasan continues and he has finally snared a wicket!!! Samarawickrama is bamboozled and the keeper can take off the bails. Is there a comeback in the offing? SL 121/4 after 29.1 overs 

Shakib continues and as has been the case this whole match, the first two balls are dots. And it stays the same as Shakib takes another maiden. SL 121/3 after 29 overs

Mahedi Hasan again after Shakib's 2-run previous over. Gives away 2 from the first 5 balls as the batters are finding it difficult to really get going. No sixes have been hit in this entire match. SL 121/3 after 28 overs

Mahedi Hasan will bowl the 26th and Asalanka takes a single off the second ball to put Samarawickrama on strike. Nothing muchj from the over as it stays at 1. SL 115/3 after 26 overs

Shakib in to bowl the 25th over and gives away 0 from the first three deliveries. And it stays nil from this over as Shakib bowls a maiden. SL 114/3 after 25 overs

Shoriful Islam will bowl this one and Samarawickrama with a single to bring up his 50!! What a great knock. Asalanka on strike now and just a wide from the next 3 balls before the batter smashes the 4th for a well palced boundary. SL 114/3 after 24 overs

Taskin Ahmed continues and starts with 2 runs off the first two balls. Follows it up with a wide. They really don't need these extras in this stage of the match. Samarawickrama smashes the fourth delivery for a boundary!! SL 108/3 after 23 overs

Mehidy Hasan Miraz in to the attack and Asalanka smashes his 3rd delivery for a four, then goes off strike with a single. Samarawickrama returns the favour and 100 is up for the hosts. SL 100/3 after 22 overs

Taskin Ahmed back in the attack and starts with 3 dots before Samarawickrama goes off strike with a single. Asalanka gives the strike back again as he pulls for a single to backward square leg. 50-partnership up. SL 93/3 after 21 overs

Mustafizur will continue and starts with 2 dots. Make that 3 as Asalanka is content to just defend. asalanka is finally off the mark in this over with a single. One more single to end this over. SL 90/3 after 20 overs

Shakib continues and Samarawickrama cuts away the first delivery for a boundary. He is not hanging about anymore. After 2 dots, Samarawickrama smashes the fourth again for another four, this time to deep midwicket. SL 88/3 after 19 overs

Mustafizur is back in the attack. Can he provide a much-needed breakthrough for Bangladesh as the match slowluy slips from Bangladesh's hands? Gives away 3 from the first 3 balls as Sri Lanka are content to only deal in singles. They are in no hurry here as the target is getting closer. Samarawickrama finally is tired of singles and flicks the fourth ball to fine leg for a four!! Leg byes. SL 77/3 after 18 overs 

Shakib continues the 17th and gives 2 runs from the first 3 deliveries as the batters are content to just rotate strike, keeping the scoreboard ticking. Just the 3 from this over. SL 69/3 after 17 overs

Mahedi Hasan in to bowl the 16th over. After a dot, Asalanka finds the gap and gets four runs. Takes a single after that and Samarawickrama can see this over off. Nothing more from this one. SL 66/3 after 16 overs

We are back after drinks and Shakib continues. Just a single from the first 3 balls as Sri Lanka are struggling to really get going in this match. Bangladesh have their tails up and will be looking for wickets now.  Huge shout for a caught behind. Umpire says no and Bangladesh review. Looks like the pad but we'll knwo for sure soon. UltraEdge finds no bat involved and the review is lost. Asalanka stays put. SL 61/3 after 15 overs 

Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the attack and Asalanka takes a single to go off strike. Samarawickrama on strike now and he takes a single as well. Two fielders now collide for Bangladesh. SL 54/3 after 13 overs

Mahedi Hasan brought into the attack and starts with 2 dots as Asalanka treads cautiously. Same goes for the next two balls as Asalanka struggles to get off the mark. a single to end the over and 50 up for Sri Lanka. SL 50/3 after 12 overs 

Mehidy Hasan Miraz brought into the attack as Bangladesh tries to push the initiative. Asalanka with a single off the second delivery to go off strike. Samarawickrama flicks the next to the third man region to get 2 runs. Follows that up with another single as they keep the scoreboard busy. SL 49/3 after 11 overs

Shakib in to bowl the last over of the first powerplay. And would you know it!! He strikes in his second delivery!! The captain steps up and bamboozles Mendis as the ball goes through his defence and skittles the stumps. SL 43/3 after 9.2 overs

Mustafizur Rahman brought into the attack now. Starts with two dot balls as the batters will be very cautious in playing the wily veteran. follows those up with a wide and then 2 more dots. The fifth ball is smashed by Mendis for a boundary. SL 42/2 after 9 overs

Shakib brings himself in the attack. Can he compensate with his bowling after a not so stellar batting effort? Gives away 3 from the first 5 balls and ends the over with a dot. SL 36/2 after 8 overs

Taskin in to bowl the 7th and starts off with 4 dot balls. Meanwhile, Mendis looks like he has pulled a muscle and is getting it checked out. He looks fine now and continues. SL 33/2 after 7 overs 

Shoriful continues and starts with a wide!! The next 3 balls are dots as Samarawickrama is content to just play defensive strokes. He finally opens his arms and sends the 5th delivery to the boundary. Excellent timing. SL 31/2 after 6 overs

Taskin continues and a beautiful cover drive for a four by Samarawickrama to start this one off. The second ball gets the same treatment as Samarawickrama glances it past the keeper for four more. The next one is 2 wides. Pretty expensive one, this over. Nothing off the next two balls. The remaining balls also yield no runs. Good comeback from the bowler. SL 25/2 after 5 overs

Shoriful Islam back and Nissanka with a lofted drive to start this one off with a brace. Swings his bat at the second and it's hit into the ground. Dot ball. And gone!!! It's nicked and Mushfiqur behind the stumps takes a tumbling catch!!! Hugem huge wicket for Bangladesh as Nissanka departs. SL 15/2 after 3.3 overs

Taskin Ahmed to bowl the 3rd over and he strikes!!! Just what the doctor ordered for Bangladesh. Full delivery and it's through the batter and smashes into Karunaratne's stumps. SL 13/1 after 2.1 overs.

Shoriful Islam in to bowl the second over and starts with a dot as Karunaratne blocks it. The next ball is a single as Karunaratne rotates strike. the 3rd delivery is flicked through square leg for 2 more runs. Nissanka continues his assailt as he pulls away the fifth for a boundary!! The last ball is hit vstraight, through the legs of the bowler for 2 runs. SL 13/0 after 2 overs

We are back for the chase and Nissanka and Karunaratne start for the hosts. Taskin Ahmed opens the attack and 2 from the first 3 balls.  Nothing from the next two balls and the over ends with 2 more from Nissanka. SL 4/0 after 1 over.

Last I played ODIs in Qualifiers. Took some experience and came here. Wicket was pretty dead in first half. That's why I tried slower balls and other things. Very difficult to adjust to ODIs so soon after T20s. But I will manage it.

And another wicket as Mustafizur is caught leg before. looks fairly straight and the umpire gives it. Bangladesh will review this one though. And the 3rd umpire confirms the wicket. Bangladesh skittled out for 164.

Matheesha Pathirana continues and would you know it!!! He has taken out Taskin Ahmed!! The batter tries to defend but the ball hits the middle of the bat and just goes up and Theekshana can take it!! BAN 164/9 after 42.2 overs

Theekshana continues and he has cleaned up a well-set Shanto!!! Instant impacr. It just goes through the Bangladesh batter's defence and Bangladesh's sole resistance falls. BAN 162/8 after 41.2 overs

Dunith Wellalage in the attack and after two initial dot balls, Mahedi gets off strike with a single. There hasn't been a single six in this innings thus far, if you can believe it. A fumble in the 4th ball allows Shanto to take a single as well. Huge shout for an LBW and it's been given!!! Mahedi reviews straightaway. Looks fairly straight. Let's see. No bat involved, confirms UltraEdge. Wickets umpire's call and Mahedi has to walk back. BAN 162/7 after 40.5 overs

Theekshana in to bowl and is that a stump out? The extra bounce bamboozled both the batter and the keeper but it looked like Mahedi will survive. The hurry from Kusal Mendi leads to him missing and the batter survives. Nothing off the next two balls as well as Mahedi looks to navigate this over without any hiccups. Two runs from the next 2 as the batters rotate strike. A single more to end the over. BAN 160/6 after 40 overs

Dhananjaya back in the attack and both Bangla batters rotate strikes off the first two deliveries to fetch 2 runs. Just 1 from the remaining 4 balls as Sri Lanka maintain their vice grip on the match. BAN 148/6 after 38 overs

Disaster in the middle as Bangladesh lose another wicket, this time to a run out. Now we are waiting to see who is gone. Shanto is in the crease first so it does not look Shanto is out. Mehidy Hasan Miraz was out of his crease as well when Shanto crossed over to go to the non-striker's end. And yes, Mehidy has to depart BAN 141/6 after 36.3 overs

Dhananjaya back and Shanto finally slices him for a four off the fourth delivery. That's the first boundary in 8 overs. A bit of pressure on  the bowler now. BAN 140/5 after 36 overs

Dhananjaya de Silva bowled the last over and gave away just 4 runs. Now Kasun Rajitha in to the attack. 5 runs from the first 4 balls as Bangladesh look to build some sort of momentum. BAN 135/5 after 35 overs

Pathirana in to bowl the next over and Shanto takes a single off the first delivery to give the strike to Mushfiqur. And he's gone!!!! After a couple of deliveries, Mushfiqur tries to fo after the pacer and holes out to Karunaratne in the deep. BAN 127/5 after 32.4 overs.

After drinks, Theekshana in the attack and starts with 3 back to back dots. The fourth is a dot as well as Shanto struggles to put him away. Finally a flick past the bowler for a single. Excellent over by the bowler. BAN 126/4 after 32 overs

Pathirana bowled a delivery which Musfiqur tried to cut however missed and the ball went to the keeper making a sound. The Sri Lankan players appealed half-heartedly and they have no reviews left. The umpire does not give the batter out and on ultra edge, there is a clear spike. An opportunity went begging for Sri Lanka due to their early exhaustion of reviews. After 30 over Bangladesh 117/4

Shanaka has realised this is the moment where he needs to get the breakthrough hence he has bought both his ace bowlers into attack from either end. It is going to be a tricky period for the batters as they will be facing quality bowling from either end although the catch is it will be only for a small period and the pressure will fade out significantly if the weather this storm. After 28 over Bangladesh 117/4

Mushfiqur is known for his counter-attacking approach when the team is in trouble and in a situation where Bangladesh find themselves they need to provide a counter punch as the Sri Lankan bowlers have not been challenged in terms of their lines and lengths they just bowled at their will pitching the ball in one area and dictated the pace of the innings. After 27 over Bangladesh 114/4

The ball is now gripping and turning. A few ones are going straight and an occasional ball is turning sharply. This might increase as the evening progresses as there is cloud cover and if it rains it may make the outfield wet and create trouble for bowlers to grip the ball or else it may not be an easy chase.  After 26 over Bangladesh 102/4

The captain provides the breakthrough. Hridoy comes down the track to play the ball on the leg-side however misses the ball completely and gets trapped in front of the wickets. Much needed partnership comes to an end by much-needed wicket. The experienced Mushfiqur comes into the crease now. After 24 over Bangladesh 95/4

It might be a good time for the Sri Lankan captain to bring back Theekshana for a spell. He has only bowled three overs so far. This partnership is growing it might be a good opportunity to bring in the tweaker and tried get the breakthrough before this goes out off hand. After 23.2 over Bangladesh 90/3

The skipper has decided to roll his arm over here. The partnership seems to get under the skin of Sri Lankans as he has gone out of his genuine five bowling options. The wicket is continuing to play slow but Sri Lanka seems to be missing the penetration of Wanindu Hasaranga. After 22 over Bangladesh 83/3

Shanto started his innings slowly but he is picking up the pace as he is going along. If Bangladesh has to post a decent total he needs to score a big knock. Hridoy at the other end is rotating the strike nicely and is getting into his innings. This seems to be a wicket on the slower side anything around 270-280 might be a good enough total. After 20.3 over Bangladesh 76/3

Post the Powerplay Bangladesh has pulled back things a bit. Sri Lanka is still ahead in this game but Shanto and Hridoy are building a nice partnership here. If they can keep the scoreboard ticking over for a few more overs without losing wickets then they can assess how to go about from there on. It has got very dark here in Kandy fingers crosses as far as rain is concerned. After 16 over Bangladesh 64/3

Both the bowler and captain have decided to deploy the short ball tactic and use the length of longer boundaries here in Kandy. Though in theory the tactic may sound good but the wicket does not have the pace to hurry the batter and the ball is coming pretty nicely onto the bat to pull. They might have to rethink that side of the tactic.  After 15.2. over Bangladesh 63/3

Shanto started his innings slowly but he is picking up the pace as he is going along. If Bangladesh has to post a decent total he needs to score a big knock. Hridoy at the other end is rotating the strike nicely and is getting into his innings. This seems to be a wicket on the slower side anything around 270-280 might be a good enough total. After 14.1 over Bangladesh 56/3