Asia Cup 2023 Twitter Reactions

'Bohot accha khele'- Fans react as Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by five wickets in Asia Cup 2023

Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh in their opening game of the ongoing Asia Cup by 5 wickets, at Pallakele International Stadium.

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Akshay
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Sri Lanka (Source- Twitter)

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (Source- Twitter)

Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh in their opening game of the ongoing Asia Cup by 5 wickets, at Pallakele International Stadium. Young pacer Matheesha Pathirana was the pick of the bowlers as he led the Sri Lankan pace attack enough to bowl out a below-par Bangladesh for just 164 runs in the second match of the Asia Cup on Thursday.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first. They never looked in control, except for their batter Najmul Hossain Shanto who looked in fine touch and scored 89 runs in 122 balls. Other batters alongside him collapsed like dominoes with 7 batters not even crossing single digits.

Matheesha Pathirana shines on Asia Cup debut

Debutant, Matheesha Pathirana ended with career-best figures of 4 for 32. Theekshana started things off by trapping another debutant Tanzid Hasan lbw in just the second over of the game. With the innings off to a slow start, Mohammed Naim fell next. Shakib Al Hasan was dismissed by Pathirana in the 11th over to leave Bangladesh reeling on 36 for 3.

Shanto and Towhid Hridoy put on a stand of 59. Mushfiqur Rahim and Shanto then added 32 for the fifth wicket. After Mushfiqur departed, not a single batter after that was able to keep Shanto company as Pathirana and Theekshana rattled the lower order. Apart from Shanto, only Hridoy managed to reach 20, while only two other batters reached double digits. With these two courtesy of the small partnerships, the Bangla Tigers were bundled out for just 164 runs playing 42.4 overs.

In reply, the Sri Lankan top order never got the start they required. They were reduced to 43-3. But Sadeera Samarawickrama scored a brilliant 54 runs off 77 balls. Charith Asalanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama's partnership helped Sri Lanka to stabilize the innings. This result means Sri Lanka has one foot ahead in the Super 4 stage, while Bangladesh faces a must-win tie against Afghanistan.

Matheesha Pathirana was the man of the match, he said, "This is my first man of the match title for my country, so really happy about it. (T20 skills in ODIs) Slower balls are important, that's why I took wickets in the death. Useful skill from T20s to fifty overs. My bowling is different so a little unpredictable."

Here's how fans reacted:

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