Majestic Tamim Iqbal achieved another milestone with his 8th ODI century in the international cricket. He has become first Bangladeshi batsman to achieve 10,000 international runs-feat in all three formats during the first ODI of the 3-match series against Sri Lanka at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium yesterday. The left handed batsman reached the century from 127-ball in 42.2 overs taking a single off pacer Lahiru Kumara's delivery.
He finally scored 127 runs off 142 balls laced with 15 boundaries and one towering over boundary before he was caught by Gunaghilaka off Kumara delivery. He reached the landmark taking two runs in the third ball of the first overs and also become the 51st batsman in World cricket to reach such a milestone. The left-handed opener is the leading run-getter for Bangladesh in Test cricket, ODIs and T20I matches.
The 28-year batsman hailed from Chittagong played a vital role of Bangladesh's historic Test match victory against Sri Lanka scored a match-winning 82 runs during the second innings to enable his side to draw the series 1-1. In 49 Tests, Tamim has 3,677 runs with 206 is his highest score.
The left handed opener has 1202 runs in 55 T20Is, and before the first ODI against Sri Lanka today, Tamim scored 5120 runs in 162 ODIS for Bangladesh. The southpaw opener Tamim's highest knock in ODIs of 154 came against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 2009.
In the beginning of the match, Sri Lanka captain Upul Tharanga won the toss and elected to field in Dambulla. Bangladesh handed off-spinner Mehedi Hasan his debut in the ODI after his fine performance in the preceding two-Test series which ended in 1-1 draw. The visitors left out Imrul Kayes, Rubel Hossain, Subashis Roy, Sanjamul Islam, Shuvagata Hom and Nurul Hasan from their starting eleven.
Milinda Siriwardana made the Sri Lankan line-up after replacing Kusal Perera, who was ruled out of the first two ODIs with a hamstring injury. However, Soumya Sarkar was gone early in the innings and scored 10. Tamim Iqbal and Sabbir Rahman added 90 runs in the 2nd wicket. Asela Gunaratne broke this partnership and picked up the wicket of Sabbir on 54. Mushfiqur Rahim followed him in the next over and gone for 1.
Next batsman Shakib Al Hasan picked up his 33rd ODI half-century and made a partnership of 144 runs with Tamim in the 4th wicket. Suranga Lakmal struck for the second time and got rid of Shakib on 72. Tamim was the next man to be dismissed on 127 by Lahiru Kumara. Then Mosaddek Hossain and Mahmudullah added 35 runs in the 6th wicket and helped Bangladesh to score past 300 runs. Mosaddek was unbeaten on 24 and Mahmudullah was on 10.
Suranga Lakmal was the most successful bowler for Sri Lanka with 2 wickets for 45 runs. Other 3 wickets were shared by Lakshan Sandakan, Lahiru Kumara and Asela Gunaratne. Sri Lanka have lost the last three ODIs, while this fixture is Bangladesh's first in Dambulla since 2010, when they were crushed in all three Asia Cup games.
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