Fernando Shines as Sri Lanka Seal ODI Series

Sri Lanka 242 for 3 (Avishka 82, Mathews 52*, Mustafizur 2-50) beat Bangladesh 238 for 8 (Mushfiqur 98*, Dananjaya 2-39, Pradeep 2-53, Udana 2-58) by seven wickets

Colombo: Avishka Fernando scored 82 off 75 balls as Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by seven wickets to take an insurmountable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series on Sunday, 28 July.

It was Sri Lanka's first bilateral series win at home since November 2015 against the West Indies.

Bangladesh scored 238-8 after captain Tamim Iqbal chose to bat first. Mushfiqur Rahim scored an unbeaten 98 off 110 deliveries.

Sri Lanka reached 242-3 in the 45th over with 32 deliveries to spare. Angelo Mathews made 52 not out and Kusal Mendis hit an unbeaten 41.

Bangladesh was 26-0 in the sixth over before opening batsman Soumya Sarkar (11) was trapped lbw to seam bowler Nuwan Pradeep. Iqbal departed for 19, bowled by seamer Isuru Idana.

Mohammad Mithun (12), Mahmudullah (6), Sabbir Rahman (11) and Mosaddek Hossain (13) departed quickly to leave Bangladesh struggling at 117-6.

Rahim and Mehedy Hasan (43) combined for a 84-run stand for the seventh wicket to take Bangladesh to a respectable score.

Spinner Akila Dhananjaya took 2-39 in his 10 overs.

Sri Lanka made a strong start in their reply with openers Fernando and captain Dimuth Karunaratne sharing a 71-run stand before Karunaratne was bowled by spinner Hasan for 15.

Fernando hit two sixes and nine fours in his innings before being caught by Iqbal off the bowling of Mustafizur Rahman, who finished with 2-50 off eight overs.