Bangladesh registered a 23-run upset victory over defending champions Sri Lanka in a round robin league encounter to keep their hopes alive of qualifying for the final of Asia Cup T20 cricket tournament, in Mirpur, on Sunday.
Batting first, Sabbir Rahaman's 54-ball-80 helped the home team reach a competitive 147 for seven in 20 overs.
In reply, Sri Lanka looked like chasing the target easily till the first 10 overs but suffered a dramatic batting collapse as they could only score 124 for eight in the end.
Mustafizur Rahaman (1/19 in 4 overs) again bowled brilliantly at the death using all the variations in his armoury to help his team notch up their second win in the tournament.
Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza kept three overs of his best bowler at the back end which proved to be really useful.
The loss of four wickets for 16 runs in between the end of 11th and 15th over was the turning point for the 'Tigers', as the home team is fondly referred to in this part of the world.
Earlier, Sabbir Rahaman took on the Sri Lankan bowling attack, blasting his way to a 54-ball-80 that had 10 boundaries and three sixes as Bangladesh posted a respectable 147 for seven in 20 overs.
The 24-year-old Sabbir, who is easily the best T20 batsman in Bangladesh at the moment, has carried on his form from the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) in the tournament.
His innings is more praiseworthy, considering the fact that Bangladesh were reduced to 26 for three with openers Mohammed Mithun (0), Sarkar (0) and veteran Mushfiqur Rahim (4) back in the dug-out.
However, the fall of the wickets at the other end did not deter Sabbir from playing his natural game.
Sabbir's 50 came off 38 balls with a mistimed six off Jayasuriya which was followed by couple of attractive boundaries.
Such was his dominance that when he was finally out for 80, Bangladesh's total score was only 108. It was again left to Mahmudullah Riyadh (23 not out off 12 balls) to Bangladesh to a respectable total.
