Sri Lanka suffered a 6-wicket loss to Bangladesh in their final group stage match in the ongoing ACC Men’s U19 Asia Cup 2023 as they were knocked out of the tournament without making it through to the semis.
Having asked to bat first, Sri Lanka got off to a decent start in the first powerplay, adding 41 runs for 1 wicket. However, the islanders lost 5 wickets in between overs 16th to 29th as they slipped from 74/1 to 118/5.
Most Lankan batters got starts, but no one converted those to a big one. The left-hand opening batter Pulindu Perera was the highest scorer, scoring 28 off 29 balls, while Sineth Jayawardena was dismissed for a 30-ball 25.
The lower-middle order batters made some contributions, but with the lack of partnerships, Sri Lanka ended up with a total of 199 for 9 in their 50 overs. On the bowling front, Wasi Siddiquee was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh, scalping 3 wickets.
Right-arm seamer Garuka Sanketh provided Sri Lanka just the perfect start with the ball as he removed Jishan Alam for a duck in the very first over.
Ashiqur Rahman and Chowdhur Md Rizwan stabilised the Bangladesh innings with a 74-run stand for the 2nd wicket before Vishwa Lahiru caught Rizwan (32 off 39) off his bowling to make the breakthrough.
However, opener Rahman kept the scoreboard ticking and smashed a brilliant hundred, ending Sri Lanka U19’s hopes of making it through to the semis. The latter remained unbeaten on 118 off 130 balls while hitting 11 fours & 2 sixes as Bangladesh reached the target with more than 9 overs to spare and 6 wickets in hand.
Accordingly, Bangladesh won all 3 matches to make it to the semis and UAE defeated Japan in the last match of the Group Stage to seal their place in the semis. With this loss, Sri Lanka was knocked out of the tournament without moving through to the semis.
