& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

What Tigers do, SL can do better

Sports Reporter
It was not all doom and gloom for Bangladesh during their six-wicket loss in the first T20I against Sri Lanka. Perhaps for the first time on Sri Lanka's current tour of the country, Bangladesh's mantra matched their deeds. The aggression they wanted to show in the ODI tri-series in January quickly gave way to over-aggression and led to their downfall. The positive intent they talked about in the Test series was lacking in the pitch selection in Chittagong and was nowhere to be found in Dhaka.
Yesterday, however, the batsmen displayed the fearless approach that skipper Mahmudullah Riyad wanted from them as they racked up 193 for five in 20 overs. It was their highest total in T2OIs, surpassing the 190 for five against Ireland in Belfast in July 2018, but that may be the most painful aspect of this defeat because Sri Lanka proved that even Bangladesh's best is not good enough as 20 balls remained when they romped home.
It would be hard to argue that Bangladesh's batting could have been better than it was, given the personnel. Soumya Sarkar, coming into the national setup for the first time since the tour of South Africa last year, went after the bowling immediately after Mahmudullah chose to bat at the toss. Debutant and Soumya's opening partner Zakir Hasan seemed a little out of his depth, but that did not stop him from trying to go after the bowling. His innings may have been a simple 10 off nine bails, but the four he hit to end the first over off Shehan Madushanka sent a message down the order that regardless of if you are one of the four debutants or a senior, there would be no compromising with the team plan to cash in on a belter of a Mirpur wicket.
Soumya's dismissal at the halfway stage after a maiden T20I half-century could very easily have set the cat among the pigeons as had happened so often before. 100 for two in 10.1 overs could easily have led to a middling total instead of one that was just made to look so. Afif Hossain's dismissal on the same score in the same over hinted at a repeat of history, but Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad, the senior statesmen of the side, put on a 73-run fourthwicket stand in 7.5 overs that was replete with exquisite shots from the two stylish players.
The bowling was not so hot - a quite obvious conclusion if you see the scorecard. Missing their lynchpin in the injured Shakib Al Hasan, it is natural that the bowling would not be their strong suit. But to just focus on the Tigers' deficiencies would be to ignore the immense talents put on display by Kusal Mendis, Dasun Shanaka and that scourge of Bangladesh known as Thisara Perera. Sri Lanka played out 31 dot balls in 16.4 overs while Bangladesh played 34 in 20 overs. The difference was that the tourists hit eight sixes to Bangladesh's five. The Tigers' old handicap of not having batsmen who can hit the big ones from the start came back to haunt them once more.
Medium pacer Mohammad Saifuddin in particular displayed complete lack of understanding of how to bowl to aggressive batsmen, while debutant left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam did himself no harm with figures of 25 for two in four overs.
The distance between the two teams will not close much before the second and final match in Sylhet, and it seems that it is time to accept that Sri Lanka just have Bangladesh's number on this tour.