Mendis stars in thumping win as SL sweep tour
Sri Lanka ended their Bangladesh tour in style, crushing the hosts by 75 runs to wrap up the T20 series 2-0
Sri Lanka ended their Bangladesh tour in style, crushing the hosts by 75 runs to wrap up the T20 series 2-0
Commentator: @sreshthx
8.51pm That's all from Bangladesh for this tour. A dominant performance from Sri Lanka and 2018 starts off to a perfect start for the Island boys. Hope you enjoyed ESPNcricinfo's coverage of the T20 series. This is Sreshth Shah, and on behalf of our team, we thank you for joining us this evening. See you.
8.40pm We're ready with the presentation. First up, the losing captain, Mahmudullah: "It was a score that I felt we could chase, but for that we needed a good start. But we kept losing wickets, didn't get any momentum. And guess we didn't bowl well too. The wicket was good to bat on - when the dew came in the batting was good too. Not much for the spinners either. If we would've stopped them at 180-odd, then we could've chased it down. We need to sit together ahead of the Nidahas trophy and figure out how we can chase 180, and how our bowlers can keep the damage low. Shakib is a champion player, so yeah, we missed him with both ball and bat. Special congratulations to the SL team for how they played."
Kusal Mendis is the Man of the Match and the Man of the Series. Kusal says: "Although I got only 83 runs in the ODIs, I trained very hard and worked very hard with the coaches to continue with my normal game. Bowlers and batsmen both worked hard and executed their plans. Personally, I'm very happy to win this for the team. Not sure how Kusal Perera will come back (laughs), but I'm sure he'll find a way back."
Time for the winning captain, Dinesh Chandimal: "It's a tough call, how Kusal Perera comes back (laughs again). Mendis batted really well, we thought he can carry the bat through his innings, and he did. It's been a really good series as a team. We lost the first two ODIs, really badly. We picked ourselves up after that. We didn't play like a team, we played like a family. So finally results came through. 2017 was tough, so this is a really good start. Hope the boys do their best moving forward - we have a good combo of young and old."
8.35pm And with that, Sri Lanka add the T20 trophy to their collection, after winning the ODI and Test series trophies over the past month. Handshakes all around to bring an end to this hard-fought tour. Bangladesh, though, were completely outplayed today. First, it was SL's batsmen, led by Kusal Mendis' 70, that helped them post 210, but Sri Lanka's bowlers came to the party as well: in fact, all eight of them. The star bowler, however, was Madushanka who pulled his left hamstring after taking two big wickets. These two teams will soon meet again, together with India, when they face off at the Nidahas Trophy in SL later this year. For now... time for the presentation.
Rajin: "Another record... first team to win batting first in Sylhet"
Hashir: "I am back. And yes, Sri Lanka is back. That's a great start for the year for SL."
Abu Jayed st †Chandimal b Gunathilaka 2 (3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 66.66
Qamar Uddin: "Starting of the tour Lankan fans were super critical about their own team now they are critical about BD players. Don't forget the team is playing without a coach and against their last coach"
Mustafizur Rahman b Gunathilaka 8 (9b 1x4 0x6) SR: 88.88
DanielAlexander: "Sri Lanka the first and only team to win Test, ODI and T20I series in 2018."
Mahedi Hasan c Udana b Shanaka 11 (11b 1x4 0x6) SR: 100.00
Sri Lanka's captain was pleased with Kusal Mendis' form and the team's tour sweep in Bangladesh
The stand-in captain also said they were still looking for the right combination in T20s, as they handed six debuts in their last two matches
Sri Lanka ended their Bangladesh tour in style, crushing the hosts by 75 runs to wrap up the T20 series 2-0
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