‌Shoriful Islam made good use of the unusually green deck in Sylhet to nick off Avishka Fernando on the second ball of the innings before Taskin Ahmed dispatched Kamindu Mendis in the last over of the powerplay to leave the score reading 45/2 at the end of six overs. Kusal Mendis eventually attempted to break the shackles with a few well-timed boundaries to accelerate onwards from his 16-ball 14 but with Sadeera Samarawickrama continuing to reel at run-a-ball after 25 deliveries, the Tigers were well on top at the halfway stage with the Lions 79/2. However, the dew inevitably started making its presence felt thereafter and provided the batters the much-needed impetus alongside the short boundaries and rapid outfield. The next two overs begot 39 runs as Mendis raced to his half-century off just 27 deliveries. Another brief slump in scoring rate followed including Mendis holing out to long-off, until Charith Asalanka unleasehed carnate at the death. His six maximums in an unbeaten 21-ball 44, aided by Samarawickrama also getting in on the act after bringing up his half-century off 43 balls, saw the side score 64 in the last four overs to post 206/3 on the board.

Litton Das got the chase off to a terrible start by getting a tickle on an attempted flick in Angelo Mathews' opening over. Soumya Sarkar and Towhid Hridoy followed suit in the powerplay, despite the latter's statement-making first-ball six, while skipper Najmul Shanto succumbed to Matheesha Pathirana's short-ball barrage after a harrowing 22-ball stay for 20. Nevertheless, Mahmudlluah's explosive start marginally revived the powerplay score of 43/3 to 79/4 at the halfway stage before an 11-ball extras-laden Pathirana over went for 20 and blew the winds back into the Tigers' sails. However, when Mahmudullah departed in the 14th over shortly after bringing up a 27-ball half-century, the asking rate of 13 and a half seemed beyond reach but Jaker Ali had other ideas. The 26-year-old, playing just his fourth T20I, struck six maximums and four boundaries to keep the hosts in the game till the very last over but fell prey with three balls to go, thus allowing Dasun Shanaka to get the job done by defending nine runs in the final over.

Srilanka's last 2 t20 matches, funny though 😅

Scored 206 in each match

One won by 3 runs

And another lost by 3 runs#BANvsSL #Slvsban pic.twitter.com/9LcuV55JcZ

— Azry Anas (@Mhmd_AzryAnas) March 4, 2024

Congrats

Well done Shanaka !! Finally we have the win, which could have much easier if they bowled well in the middle. #BANvSL

— Kalindu Samarasekera (@sam_kal) March 4, 2024

Not good!

Great captaincy by Charith Asalanka. Not an easy game to lead first up. Small boundaries, wet ground, fast bowlers going haywire, etc. But he prevailed!#BANvSL

— Udendra (@udendra) March 4, 2024

Take a bow!

Finally Nagin -dance was averted today,hope so Dinesh kartik takes a note of this! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣#BANVSL#T20Cricket

— @mauryan banters (@MauryanBanters) March 4, 2024