Live With Cricket

Dilshan stars as Sri Lanka see off Tigers

Centurion Tillakaratne Dilshan and sidekick Kumar Sangakkara continued their rich run of form as Sri Lanka cantered to victory over Bangaldesh.

More to follow on Sri Lanka's effort with the bat...

Earlier middle-order batsman Mohammad Ashraful hit a half-century to help Bangladesh reach a decent total in the opening match of the triangular series in Dhaka.

Tamim Iqbal (40) and Imrul Kayes (23) put on 65 for the opening wicket, but the home side wilted as Sri Lanka's bowlers struck back in style.

Ashraful (75) built useful partnerships with Mushfiqur Rahim (35) and Mahmudullah (45), however, to help the home side reach 260 for seven.

The openers gave Bangladesh a brisk start, although they were more courageous than convincing with their strokeplay.

Kayes provided the early push, getting off the mark with a boundary over new ball bowler Nuwan Kulasekara's head and hitting Chanaka Welegedera for another in the left-arm paceman's second over.

Sri Lanka's bowlers, wayward initially, then tightened their line and stemmed the runs, but Iqbal, who was dropped on 11 by Kulasekara off his own bowling, cut loose by clubbing Welegedera for four boundaries in an over - three of them coming after he was struck on the helmet by a bouncer from the left-arm paceman.

Kumar Sangakkara brought Tillakaratne Dilshan on inside the first powerplay, but it was Kulasekara who produced the breakthrough.

He lured Kayes into a pull shot which the batsman mistimed and top-edged to Thilan Samaraweera at fine leg.

Dilshan then removed Iqbal in the next over and Suranga Lakmal further undermined Bangladesh's progress by extracting Raqibul Hasan - caught brilliantly by Samaraweera at slip - and captain Shakib Al Hasan in his first spell.

From 65 for no loss the home side had slipped to 74 for four when former captain Ashraful and Rahim came together, the duo arresting the slide with a 58-run stand for the fifth wicket.

Off-spinner Suraj Randiv broke that partnership by trapping Rahim in front as he attempted to sweep, but Ashraful forged another alliance with Mahmudullah which helped lift Bangladesh's score beyond the 200-run mark.

The pair added 95 for the sixth wicket, Ashraful reaching his 20th ODI half-century en route.

Ashraful was run out in the penultimate over, but Naeem Islam ensured a sparkling finish for the home side by clubbing Lakmal for a four and two sixes in a final over which yielded 20.