Better bowling variations keep visitors at bay

Bangladesh produced a far superior bowling performance in yesterday’s second T20I against Sri Lanka in Sylhet, significantly improving their hopes of levelling the series, should the top-order batters make their presence felt in chasing down 165 for five.

It is telling how a good fightback, that too with a local boy in the middle, can have an effect on morale despite not ultimately producing a win in the first T20I which the Tigers lost by just three runs. The quality of cricket in the series opener had created an expectation, which could explain a better crowd presence at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

Jaker Ali Anik had said that there were lots of positives to take from the first T20I and the bowlers had to improve on a track which had more consistent grass covering and a harder makeup compared to the wicket used in the first T20I.

After opting to bowl first, captain Najmul Hossain Shanto introduced Shoriful Islam, who started with a maiden even as there was not much swing this time around. The hardness of the surface made for some extra bounce and Taskin Ahmed utilised that pressure created from the maiden to pick up Avishka Fernando’s wicket after the left-hander shuffled across to try and whip one through mid-wicket, only to get a top-edge that Taskin gathered himself.

Kusal Mendis, however, had other ideas, taking on Taskin and Mustafizur Rahman almost immediately. He and Kamindu Mendis started taking apart the attack in-between one over where Rishad Hossain was able to create some pressure. But the breakthrough came from Soumya Sarkar as Kusal nicked a gentle outswinger and departed for a 22-ball 36, ending the 66-run second-wicket stand.

From there on in, the fielding and bowlers’ variations worked quite well on a surface where Sri Lanka were expected to score more. Mahedi Hasan effected a run-out to see the back of Kamindu for 37 before he was able to squeeze some pressure back with the ball as well.

And Mustafizur, after going for 15 runs in his opening over, finally got his variations to help the Tigers get a foothold as Samarawickrama departed after a rusty innings. Mustafizur was able to get a measure of the length he needed to hit and the off-cutter held up enough to induce an early shot from Lankans’ top-scorer as he lobbed it back to Mustafizur.

Meanwhile, Rishad did not allow the big shots and remained economical, conceding 21 in three overs. Fellow spinner Mahedi then got in on the act with a drifter that castled Charith Asalanka in the 14th over. The last five overs would then produce 43 runs with Taskin and Mustafizur dropping their lengths and pace slightly to get some purchase off the wicket.

Shoriful, who conceded 20 runs in his four, managed 13 dot balls in the innings alongside his first-over maiden. The execution of plans went pretty smoothly despite the good batting track on offer and the improvement of death over performance significantly improved Tigers’ chances in this game.

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