Sri Lanka kept their ICC World Twenty20 hopes alive with a convincing 64-run win over Bangladesh at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. And while Chaminda Vaas may have stood out on the bowling front, it was once again the unheralded Jehan Mubarak who featured with the bat when Bangladesh won the toss and chose to field first. After his impressive 46 off 13 balls against Kenya in the group stages, newcomer Mubarak commented that he wasn't usually considered a big hitter.
But a quickfire 31 not out off 19 balls saw the lanky former national swimming champion once again playing a starring role for the Sri Lankans. In fact, coming in at number seven with his team seriously in trouble, Mubarak's knock in a 51-run partnership with Tillakaratne Dilshan (21 not out off 16) ended up being the highest of the innings and one which gave the Sri Lankans the edge over a determined Bangladesh side eager to cause another upset.
It had been a shaky innings for the World Cup finalists before Mubarak and Dilshan got to the middle. Having scored consecutive fifties in earlier matches of the tournament, Sanath Jayasuriya failed with the bat for the second match in a row, this time going in the first over (caught by Mahmudullah Riyad off the bowling of Mashrafe Mortaza) without scoring.
Upul Tharanga made 23, Kumar Sangakkara 20 and captain Mahela Jayawardena 30 but the momentum was never there and some impressive bowling from the Bangladesh side saw the Sri Lankans restricted to 147-5 in their 20 overs.The wickets were shared around five of the Bangladesh bowlers, with Riyad finishing with the best figures of 1-19 off his four overs.
A target of 148 seemed to be a modest one for Bangladesh to reach but Chaminda Vaas and Randi Dilhara Fernando set to work preventing that from happening. Vaas struck first, trapping Nazim Uddin LBW in the first over for 0 and Fernando soon followed, dismissing the other opener, Tamim Iqbal (caught Malinga for 3). Like the Sri Lankans a little earlier in the evening, Bangladesh struggled to get going from there on in with wickets falling at regular intervals as the required run rate shot up into double figures and beyond. And they eventually collapsed to 83 all out by the 16th over (Aftab Ahmed and Shakib Al Hasan finishing as the top scorers with a paltry 18 runs each), handing
Sri Lanka the 64-run win.
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