Rain has final say after Mendis century, Taskin hat-trick

Kusal Mendis made 102 and Taskin Ahmed took a hat-trick, but persistent rain forced the second One-Day International between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Tuesday (March 28) to be abandoned after the first innings.

Sri Lanka, who made 311 before being bowled out in 49.5 overs, needed to win this game to keep its aspirations of a series win alive. The result means Bangladesh, who won the first game by 90 runs, cannot lose the series. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, needs to win the third ODI at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on April 1 to level the series.

It started drizzling in the mid-innings break, and never let up. In fact the rain got heavier before it reduced once again, and the umpires consulted with both teams before calling play off at 8.45pm local time.

In the play that was possible, Sri Lanka opted to bat first. Danushka Gunathilaka fell in the third over when Mashrafe Mortaza had him caught behind with an off-cutter. Mushfiqur Rahim was one of three fielders underneath the ball but he completed a good catch at square-leg.

Upul Tharanga and Mendis then got together to give the innings shape through a stand of 111 runs. They hit just four fours for the first fifty runs of their partnership, and the pattern did not change much after that too as strike rotation remained the focus.

Things got exciting in the 25th over when Tharanga hit Mustafizur Rahman for two fours in three deliveries before being run out off a no-ball. Having missed a high full toss, Tharanga went for a run even as Rahim deflected the ball to Mahmudullah at short fine-leg, who produced a direct hit at the non-striker’s end. Tharanga, in his 200th ODI, made 65 to continue his good form in white-ball cricket.

The over was not done yet, and Mendis hit a six and four to bring up his half-century. That meant 20 runs had come in the over, along with a wicket, but Sri Lanka shifted gears from thereon.

Mendis hit three fours in a space of four balls across two overs and that was followed by two consecutive fours off Shakib Al Hasan to go to 98 at the end of the 35th over. It took him two more balls to reach to his maiden ODI century after that. His increasing dominance was in evidence when he made 59 of the 83 runs that he and Dinesh Chandimal put on for the third wicket.

However, Rahman trapped Chandimal and Taskin had Mendis caught and bowled in successive overs as Bangladesh pulled back things superbly. Asela Gunaratne (39) and Malinda Siriwardana (30) put on 55 runs before wickets fell once again.

The hat-trick came in the 50th over when Taskin accounted for Gunaratne, Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep with the third, fourth and fifth balls. Gunaratne was caught at mid-off, Lakmal hit a full toss for Rahman to take a diving catch at midwicket, and Pradeep was bowled off a yorker, making Taskin the fifth Bangladesh player to take a hat-trick in ODIs.

Sri Lanka had made three changes to its team, bringing in Nuwan Kulasekara, Pradeep and Dilruwan Perera for Sachith Pathirana, Lahiru Kumara and Lakshan Sandakan.