Dilshan and Tharanga dominate Bangladesh

25 oversSri Lanka 149 for 1 (Tharanga 53*, Sangakkara 21*) v Bangladesh<
< href="/asia2010/engine/current/match/455233.html" target="new">Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

If the rules of boxing were applied to cricket, umpires Billy Bowden and Bruce Oxenford would have been justified in awarding Sri Lanka a technical knockout during the first ten overs in Dambulla, for Bangladesh's bowlers were unable to defend themselves against Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga. Sri Lanka's openers scored at will, finding the boundary at least once in each of the first 12 overs, and there was barely an appeal against either of them, as they dealt a severe blow to Bangladesh's chances of staying in the Asia Cup.

The contest between bat and ball began to find equilibrium only after Sri Lanka had reached 100 in the 12th over, once Shakib Al Hasan had delayed taking the bowling Powerplay to avail the protection of five boundary riders. During that quieter passage of play, Dilshan's attempt to work the ball on the leg side hit the leading edge and gave Shakib the softest of return catches. By that stage, though, Sri Lanka had shifted to a lower gear and Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara sought to solidify their advantage through steady accumulation.

Shakib had said at the toss that he hoped to restrict Sri Lanka to less than 240 but Tharanga's fluent cover drive for three, off the first ball off the match, indicated that goal would be tough to achieve. The second ball disappeared to the extra-cover boundary, off Dilshan's flashing bat, and another went past point, making it 12 off Mashrafe Mortaza's first over. While Dilshan didn't need much room to cut and drive Mortaza, he was offered a short ball by Syed Rasel first up and pulled it to the long leg boundary. Most of his runs came on the off-side, but when afforded scoring opportunities on the leg, Dilshan took advantage - pulling a long hop from Mortaza over the deep square leg boundary. That first six crashed into an advertising board and brought a reward of $1500 as well.

With Mortaza and Rasel proving expensive, Shakib brought Shafiul Islam and himself on. Both their first overs cost 10 runs each. Dilshan dominated both the scoring and the strike and reached his half-century off his 31st delivery with a flick off the pads, while Tharanga was on 13 off 15 at the time. Tharanga, however, imposed himself every now and then, chipping Shafiul over midwicket and skipping down to Shakib to loft a straight six. Their opening stand was worth 111 and it lifted their average partnership to 64.53, the best for any pair who have opened more than ten times.

The boundaries dried up after the 12th over - Dilshan fell for 71 off 51 in the 16th - and only 17 runs came in the next seven. Tharanga, who reached his half-century, and Sangakkara batted without risk and ensured the run-rate stayed close to six an over.