It took Sri Lanka’s seventh wicket pair of Avishka Fernando who struck 62 off 42 balls and Chamika Karunaratne 29 off 25 to haul Sri Lanka out of a precarious 79 for 6 in 12 overs in chasing down Bangladesh’s 148 with an over to spare in their first T20 World Cup 2021 warm up match at the Sheikh Sayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday.  On a day the rest of the frontline batsmen tripped up, Fernando came to the rescue together with Karunaratne iun an unbroken 69-run seventh wicket alliance when it looked like Bangladesh had the game in their pocket. The same pair completed the rescue act two days ago as well in hauling the side out of a bad spoit against Oman two days ago. The fast bowling all-rounder Karunaratne once again lived up to his growing reputation as the lower order Mr. Reliable of the side during time of crisis as the result left the Lankan camp to ponder and recoup as they front up their world cup campaign. 

Bangladesh totaled 147/7 off 20 overs having won the toss and elected to bat with Saumya Sarkar top scoring with 34 off 25 balls with Mehedi Hasan making 16 and Nurul Hassan 15. Dushmantha Chameera was in good nick for Sri Lanka claiming 3 wickets for 27 runs while Wanindu Hasaranga, Dasun Shanaka, Lahiru Kumara, Wanindu Hasareanga and Maheesh Theekshana took a wicket each. 

CHIEF SCORES:

Bangladesh 147/7 (20 Overs)

(Sayumya Sarkar 34 (25),Liton Das 11, Naim Sheyin 16, Mushfiqur Rahim 13, Asif Hossein 11, Mehedi Hasan 16, 12, Nurul Hassan 15, Dushmantha Chameera 3/27, Dasun Shanaka 1/17, Wanindu Hasaranga 1/24)Lahiru Kumara 1/24, Dasun Shanaka 1/1`7, Mahesh Theekshana 1/31)

Sri Lanka 147/6 (19 Overs)

(Avishka Fernando n.o. 62, Chamika Karunaratne n.o. 29)