(This entry was originally published on Friday, January 16th, 2009)
Sri Lanka clinched a thrilling victory against host Bangladesh in the final of the Grameen Phone Tri-Nation Cup 2009 today at Mirpur, Dhaka. Sri Lanka required a 16-ball 33-run innings from veteran spinner Muttiah Muralitharan to pull off a 2-wicket victory. Many times in the past, Muralitharan appeared as a savior of Sri Lankan team with his bowling, but today, it was Muralitharan’s bat that snatched away a seemingly victory for the host side. Batting first, Bangladesh was dismissed only for 153 runs with two balls remaining in hands thanks to middle order batsman Raqibul Hasan’s unbeaten 43 runs. Mahmudullah and Naeem Islam scored 26 and 21 runs respectively. Sri Lankan pacer Nuwan Kulasekara and Ajantha Mendis got three wickets, while batting hero Muralitharan also picked up 2 wickets.
Bangladesh got a dream start picking up 5 Sri Lankan wickets for 6 runs. It seemed the scoreboard was showing a tennis score! However, it was Kumar Sangakkara who kept Sri Lanka’s hopes afloat in the match, playing a much-needed innings of 59 runs. Along with Jehan Mubarak, Sangakkara added 45 runs for the 6th wicket, and along with Farveez Maharoof, he shared a 63-run partnership for the 7th wicket. Mubarak scored 16 runs, but Maharoof remained not out on 38 runs. However, in a bizarre turn of events, Shakib Al Hasan picked up the wickets of Sangakkara and Kulasekara in the 44th over, turning Sri Lanka from 114 for 6 to 114 for 8. From then onwards, it was all about Muttiah Muralitharan who played a smashing innings of 33 off just 16 balls. Nazmul Hossain picked up 3 wickets, while Shakib Al Hasan, who was awarded the man of the series award, got 2 wickets. Kumar Sangakkara was the man of the final for his match-winning innings in the match.
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