Sri Lanka rebounded their tumbling innings with the help of Asalanka and S Samarawickrama's half-centuries as they beat Bangladesh by five wickets in the second match of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 on Thursday at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. In their chase of (165), Sri Lankan openers Pathum Nissanka (14) and Dimuth Karunaratne (1) failed to get the team a cracking start after losing their wickets early on. Samarawickrama (54) and Asalanka (62) played pivotal knocks to take the team over the line.
Earlier, Bangladesh had decided to bat after winning the toss as they too failed to get a flying start. Bangladesh opening batters Mohammad Naim and Tanzid Hasan lost their innings on (16) and (0) respectively. Najmul Hossain Shanto brought the momentum into the team with his 89-run knock. His knock also helped the team reach a valuable score. Down the order, Bangladesh batters failed to add more runs as Sri Lanka bowled out Bangladesh for (164) in (42.4) overs. Matheesha Pathirana was impressive with his four wickets.