Sri Lanka 7-123 (Kumar Sangakkara 37, Thisara Perera 35*, Mashrafe Mortaza 2-29) beat Bangladesh 120 (Sabbir Rahman 26, Anamul Haque 24, Lasith Malinga 3-20, Sachithra Senanayake 2-11) by three wickets.
Lady luck kept away from the Bengal Tigers in the consecutive game as the Lankan Lions grabbed another thriller and clinched the Twenty20 series.
The innings of the home side was squeezed for 120 in 19.5 overs and the visitors powered 123 for the loss of seven wickets on the last ball of the 20th over.
Thisara Perera (Sri Lanka) was announced ‘Player of the match’ for his attacking unbeaten knock of 35 whereas Nuwan Kulasekara (Sri Lanka) was declared ‘Player of the series’.
The second and final Twenty20 of the series was held on Friday, February 14, 2014, at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong.
Earlier, the skipper of Bangladesh, Mashrafe Mortaza, won the toss, opted to bat first but lost the openers at just three runs. Anamul Haq along with Shakib Al Hasan took the score to 35 when the latter departed for 12 and the first followed him six runs later for 24. The middle and lower order batting of the home side collapsed against the quality bowling of the rival team. The debutant, Sabbir Hossain, was the top scorer with 26 as the entire side of the Bengal Tigers was bowled out for 120 with one ball to spare.
Lasith Malinga was the supreme bowler with three wickets, Nuwan Kulasekara and Sachithra Senanayake held two each whereas Tillakaratne Dilshan and Ajantha Mendis shared one wicket each.
Kusal Perera started off briskly for the Islanders and scored 21 off 18 with 1 six and 3 fours. He became the first victim at 23 and the incoming batsmen surrendered their wickets without any resistance. Kumar Sangakkara secured his end without any panic as the tourists were in trouble at 6-50 in 11.1 overs. Thisara Perera joined in with Sangakkara and they enhanced the score to 96 when the latter was dismissed for 37. Senanayake provided able assistance to Thisara Perera and the duo enhanced the score to 112 in 19 overs. The Lankan Lions required nine runs to win in the last six balls and Senanayake dispatched the winning four on the final delivery. He stood firm at his end for 12, Perera was at the other side for 35 as the total jumped to 7-123 in 20 overs.
Mashrafe Mortaza was the top wicket taker with two whereas Arafat Sunny, Rubel Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah got one wicket each.
Sri Lanka triumphed in the cliff-hanger by a margin of three wickets and grasped the series at 2-0.
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