Close Sri Lanka (77 for 2) beat Bangladesh (76 all out; Chandana 3-2, Hasantha Fernando 3-12) by 8 wickets
scorecard

On Sunday, Bangladesh scored their highest one-day score against Sri Lanka. Today, they showed that performance had been an aberration, as they slumped to 76 all out – their lowest score in 52 one-day internationals. They lasted just 30.1 overs, allowing the Sri Lankans to knock off the runs in 15.4 overs and wrap up the match before lunch.

It was the second time inside a year that Sri Lanka had reduced their opponents to abject misery at the Sinhalese Sports Cub in Colombo – last December, Zimbabwe were dismissed for 38. Bangladesh can at least take solace in the fact that they managed twice as many.

Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan had been the architects of the rout against Zimbabwe – Vaas took the first eight wickets while Murali cleaned up the last two. Here, the two most experienced Sri Lankan bowlers managed only a wicket each. The bulk of the damage was inflicted by medium-pacer Hasantha Fernando and legspinner Upul Chandana. Both took three wickets apiece, while Dilhara Fernando chipped in with a couple. Muralitharan's one wicket was enough to take him past Shane Warne in the one-day bowling list – only Anil Kumble, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram have taken more than Murali's 279 wickets.

Bangladesh's captain Khaled Masud would hardly have expected such capitulation after he won his second toss in two days and chose to bat. Al-Sahariar Rokon and Mohammad Ashraful added 14 for the first wicket – the highest partnership of the innings – before Ashraful nicked one to Kumar Sangakkara off Vaas for 4.

That was enough to start the slide, as the Bangladeshis gave another woeful batting display on a flat pitch. Their best batsman, Habibul Bashar, scratched around for 10 before he was trapped in front by Hasantha (40 for 4). Apart from Bashar, only Tushar Imran (10) and Masud (15) made double-digit scores in an innings where extras top-scored with 20.

Hasantha finished with 3 for 12 from six overs, while Chandana cleaned up the tail to return incredible figures of 3 for 2, leaving Sri Lanka's batsmen the pleasurable job of knocking off 77 runs to win the series. They lost two early wickets – Sanath Jayasuriya miscued a pull and was caught at midwicket for 14, while Sangakkara chipped one to midwicket for 4 – but Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene ensured a pre-lunch finish with a flurry of boundaries towards the end. Jayawardene finished with 27 from just 24 balls, while Atapattu followed his 83 in the first match with an unbeaten 31.

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