The 14th edition of the Asia Cup gets underway at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium with Bangladesh taking on Sri Lanka in the tournament opener.

Sri Lanka are without their regular skipper Dinesh Chandimal who has been ruled out of the tournament with a finger injury. In his absence, all-rounder Angelo Mathews will take charge of the team.

Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza has won the toss and elected to bat first. On his comeback to the ODI side after nearly a year, Lasith Malinga wasted no times in getting back to his groove with two wickets in the very first over of the match. The veteran pacer removed Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan off consecutive deliveries to reduce Sri Lanka to 1-2.

In the second over, Bangladesh’s misery was compounded with opener Tamim Iqbal retiring hurt. Following the early wobbles, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammad Mithun have put on a century stand to settle down the nerves in the Bangladesh dressing room. Their stand was finally broken by Malinga who got the better of Mithun (63) in the 26th over of the innings.

In the very next over, Amila Aponso dismissed Mahmudullah to reduce Bangladesh to 136-4. Mosadek Hossain’s stay at the crease did not last long either as he became Malinga’s fourth victim soon after. The Tigers lost their sixth wicket in the form of Mehidy Hasan after the batsman was caught by Lakmal off his own bowling. Bangladesh lost their skipper and Rubel Hossain soon after with Mushfiqur waging a lone battle with the bat.

Mushfiqur was the last man dismissed for a 150-ball 144 with Bangladesh’s innings yielding 261 runs. In reply, Sri Lanka’s innings got off to a horrible start too with both openers being dismissed inside the first three overs. Dhananjaya de Silva became the third Sri Lankan wicket to fall with the side being reduced to 32-3. None of the Sri Lankan batsman got going with Bangladesh striking at regular intervals. By the 19th over, the islanders had been reduced to 69-6.

There would be no miraculous rearguard action for the Lankans who were eventually bowled out for just 124 runs.

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