Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka in Asia Cup opener
Dubai, Sep 16 : Bangladesh dominated with both bat and ball to outclass Sri Lanka by 137 runs in the opening match of the Asia Cup cricket tournament here on Saturday.
Electing to bat first, Bangladesh rode Mushfiqur Rahim's career-best score of 144 runs to post what eventually turned out be a pretty competitive total of 261 in 49.3 overs.
Chasing what should have been an achievable target, the Sri Lankan chase never really gained any momentum and they were dismissed for 124 runs in 35.2 overs.
The islanders were off to disastrous start when Kusal Mendis misread the pace of a Mustafizur delivery in the second over, played across the line, and was hit in the pads plump in front.
Mortaza got rid of Upul Tharanga -- the other Sri Lankan opener -- in the very next over with a peach of a delivery which pitched on the off-stump line and moved in to disturb the stumps.
Mortaza then got rid of Dhananjaya de Silva in his next over to leave Sri Lanka struggling at 32/3 in the fifth over.
The Lankans continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. When Mehdi Hasan got rid of Thisara Perera to reduce the former World Cup champions to 69/7 in the 19th over, the match was as good as over.
Earlier, veteran pacer Lasith Malinga enjoyed a wonderful return to international action with figures of 4/23.
The 35-year-old, who was missing in action for around a year due to fitness issues, started with a bang when he sent back Liton Das and the experienced Shakib Al Hasan off consecutive balls in the opening over.
But Mushfiqur and Mithun put on a partnership of 133 runs in 24.3 overs to give a solid foundation to the Bangladesh innings. Mithun scored 63 runs off 68 balls before becoming Malinga's third victim in the 26th over.
Mushfiqur continued to battle on before Thisara Perera dismissed him in the 50th over to bring the Bangladesh innings to an end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh: 261 in 49.3 overs (Mushfiqur Rahim 144, Mohammad Mithun 63; Lasith Malinga 4/23) vs Sri Lanka: 124 in 35.2 over (Mustafizur Rahman 2/20, Mehdi Hasan 2/21, Mashrafe Mortaza 2/25).
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Pakistan forces kill 67 Afghan Taliban personnel in overnight operations: Minister
Islamabad (PTI): Pakistan security forces killed another 67 Afghan Taliban personnel in overnight operations, repulsing their attacks at 16 locations along the southwestern border early Tuesday, officials said.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar provided updates on the ongoing Operation Ghazab lil Haq, launched on Feb 26 in response to the Afghan Taliban raids.
Tarar said that 40 Afghan Taliban personnel were killed in overnight operations in the border region along the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Physical attack was attempted at one place, while a fire raid was conducted on 12 locations, which were all repulsed without any loss of life,” he said in an update posted on X.
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“At least 40 Afghan Taliban were killed in the overnight operations in KP,” he said, adding that “follow-up” operations continued.
Separately, the Afghan Taliban resorted to physical attack from across the border on 16 locations in Northern Balochistan in Qilla Saifullah, Noshki and Chaman districts while engaging Pakistan troops on 25 locations in a fire raid.
“The attacks at all the locations were repulsed with Afghan Taliban suffering 27 killed and scores injured,” he said.
The minister also said that one soldier of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan North was killed while five soldiers were injured.
On Monday, the minister said in a statement that Pakistani security forces killed 435 Afghan Taliban combatants and another 630 of them were injured. He said that 188 tanks and armoured vehicles were destroyed, 31 Afghan posts were captured and 51 locations across Afghanistan were successfully targeted in air strikes.
Meanwhile, state-run PTV reported that the Pakistan armed forces successfully conducted an air operation in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, destroying the Khogani base.
“Fitna al-Khawarij and Afghan Taliban face massive setbacks on every front after unprovoked aggression,” PTV reported, citing sources.
It further reported that security sources said Operation Ghadab-ul-Haq is still ongoing and will continue until its objectives are achieved.
