‘Tamim walking out to bat boosted me’ – Mushfiqur Rahim

The opener fractured his left wrist earlier in the game, when struck by a delivery from Suranga Lakmal, and had to retire hurt. But when Mustafizur Rahman was run out in the 47th over, Bangladesh were effectively restricted to 229.

To the amazement of most onlookers, Iqbal walked out and proceeded to bat with just one hand. He fended off the first ball he faced, and Rahim them farmed strike as much as possible, taking Thisara Perera to the cleaners, and 32 runs were added for the last wicket. It helped Bangladesh post 261, and their bowlers then bundled out Sri Lanka for 124 for a 137-run win.

Rahim later paid tribute to Iqbal. “(I was) really surprised to see Tamim come to bat, it’s a great gesture,” said Rahim after being declared Player of the Match. “When I saw him, it boosted me to do something for him and for my country.”

Mashrafe Mortaza, the Bangladesh captain, also lauded Iqbal, and succinctly said: “I think the word for Tamim is that 'people should always remember him'."

After opting to bat, Bangladesh were effectively reduced to 2/3 after Iqbal retired hurt and Lasith Malinga, on his international comeback, sent back Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan for nought. But Rahim found good support in Mohammad Mithun (63), and their 131-run partnership was largely responsible for Bangladesh’s big total.

“We didn't get the start we wanted, but credit to Mithun for taking the pressure away from me. And after that I just took my chances and it paid off,” said Rahim.

“It is probably the best I've batted because it's difficult to concentrate with the heat and the running between the wickets as well. We've been in great nick, but I haven't been able to convert my starts into big innings. So that's paid off.”

Despite the comprehensive victory, however, Mortaza said the team can still improve a lot, especially in the batting department. "The way our seniors are performing, it's really promising. (But) I think we can improve a lot, the way we lose wickets,” he said.

“Hopefully, we'll look after this very well. Mithun was out at the wrong time, and we could've made 280-290 if he wasn't out. The fielding has to be better as well.”

Fielding is an area of concern for Sri Lanka as well. There were plenty of dropped catches in the first innings, and thereafter, their batsmen didn’t show up at all. “It was a pretty bad effort from the whole team,” said Angelo Mathews, their captain. “After having them 3/3, we let them off the hook by dropping catches. And Mushy batted very well.

“We made lot of bad decisions while batting. It was a good wicket to bat on. I thought 260 was a chase-able total. But we made a lot of mistakes. We lost too many wickets and no one got going today.”

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will now face Afghanistan on Monday and Thursday respectively.