The Sri Lankan team, which had been awaiting its opportunity for the past 4 days, finally began its campaign on Saturday, September 13th, at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. The start was exactly as it had hoped for, or rather, even better. Sri Lanka, opting to bowl first, couldn’t have imagined that Bangladesh batsmen wouldn’t score a single run in the first 14 balls of the innings, while also losing 2 wickets, but that is precisely what happened. Fast bowlers Nuwan Thushara and Dushmantha Chameera bowled the first 2 overs without conceding a run, and during this time, both openers were sent back to the pavilion without opening their accounts. Bangladesh’s situation did not improve after this, and the score reached only 53 runs by the 10th over, with 5 batsmen, including captain Litton Das, returning to the pavilion. In such a scenario, Zaker Ali (41 not out) and Shamim Hossain (42 not out) steadied the innings and did not allow any further wickets to fall. These two batsmen put together a partnership of 86 runs in just 61 balls, hitting some big shots in the last over. Thanks to this, the Bangladeshi team managed to reach a score worthy of 139 runs. Hasaranga took the most wickets for Sri Lanka, with 2 wickets.
