Janith Liyanage walked off the Premadasa turf shaking his head. His 78 from 85 balls had dragged Sri Lanka to within touching distance, yet Bangladesh escaped with a 16-run victory in the opening ODI on Saturday evening.
Bangladesh’s last-wicket pair had earlier added 32 to lift the visitors to 249, a total that looked competitive but hardly out of reach. The decisive moments, Liyanage felt, came later. “We made some small mistakes and lost the game there – the batting unit will take the responsibility for that,” he admitted afterwards. Those “small mistakes” included a collapse of five wickets for 57 that left the lower order far too much to do on a surface offering gradual turn.
Liyanage, batting at six, has already fashioned a reputation as a calm finisher – he now averages a tick over 45 at a strike-rate touching 82 – and the home crowd still believed while he and Dushmantha Chameera were together. Their ninth-wicket stand of 58 slashed the target to 21 from 17 deliveries. “When I was in the middle I thought Sri Lanka always had a chance. I was telling my partners that if we can take it deep we can win the game. Unfortunately we couldn’t do it,” he recalled.
Mustafizur Rahman, mixing cutters with the occasional quicker ball, finally settled the argument. A slower delivery stopped in the pitch, Liyanage pushed early and the bowler accepted the return catch. “We tried not to take much of a risk against Mustafizur and score off the others, but it didn’t work out. Dushmantha Chameera was giving me incredible support at the time. If I’d stayed there we would definitely have been able to win. Dushy aiya was fantastic – I was the one who made the mistake.” Few in the stands argued with that candid assessment.
Sri Lanka’s think-tank see Liyanage as the man to shepherd chases, a role he embraces. “I talked frequently with coaches about what to do in different kinds of situations. One thing they said was that when our batsmen get out, I’m the one who is left to hit some big shots. I thought if I stayed till the end we have a chance,” he explained.
From Bangladesh’s point of view, the win validated their insistence on squeezing through the middle overs. Shoriful Islam’s brisk new-ball spell and Mehidy Hasan’s accurate off-spin carved out the early inroads. The fielders backed them up, most notably Litton Das with a tumbling grab at square-leg to remove Sadeera Samarawickrama.
Sri Lanka must now regroup before the second match on Tuesday. The bowling unit, which conceded those vital late runs, will warrant a review, yet it is the batting order that carries the heavier burden. As Liyanage conceded, if he had lasted a fraction longer, the story might have been very different.
