Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, 1st Match, Group B - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: Asia Cup 2018 Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Date & Time: Sep 15, 03:30 PM LOCAL

Rahim scored his sixth ODI ton © AFP

So that's a wrap of the live blog. Sri Lanka have a lot of questions to answer both with bat and ball. They let the Bangladeshis off the hook when they were 3/3 effectively and now face a must-win game against Afghanistan as they hope to stay alive in the Asia Cup. It was fun doing the blog today. Till tomorrow, when Pakistan take on Hong Kong, it's goodbye from here. Be well!

Mushfiqur Rahim, Man of the Match: Thanks to almighty for giving me strength. We need to win both our games to qualify for the next round. Mithun played really well and I knew it was easy to bat and I took my chances. When I saw Tamim walk out to bat I knew I had to do something for him and for my country. It's difficult to concentrate each and every ball. I thought I've been in great nick in the last one year and I was determined to score big runs in this tournament. I'm really happy that I'm able to contribute to my team's win.

Mortaza: I should thank Mushfiq and Mithun. They batted really well and also Tamim came out to bat under real pressure. It was good to see Mushfiq get a big score. People should remember him (Tamim). The way our seniors are performing, I think it's time for our juniors to step up now. There's lot of things we can improve. Hopefully we can look after our batting in the coming games. We have to improve a little bit in our bowling as well. Thanks for the fans for coming out in numbers and supporting us throughout. We really need your support for the rest of the tournament. Good thing that we didn't field first, but somewhere in the tournament we have to be prepared for that.

Angelo Mathews: It was a pretty bad effort from the whole team. After having them 3 wickets down for 3 runs, we let them off the hook by dropping catches. And Mushy batted very well. We made lot of bad decisions while batting. It was a good wicket to bat to. I had to use Lasith to get the wickets in the middle overs. I thought 260 was a chaseable total. We made a lot of mistakes while batting. The decision making by the whole batting unit was poor. We need a good start when we are chasing 260. We lost too many wickets and no one got going today. In the first 10 overs, after losing wickets, batsmen had to do the repair job. Unfortunately we could not get going today.

it was a question of fitness never about skill, bowling at (135-140kph) avg.... with swing , he has certainly put that to rest

187 22

Dream start for Malinga on comeback

Stop the press! Malinga is back and how. First he gets Liton Das edging behind to first slip and next ball swings one back at pace to rattle Shakib's stumps. That's Malinga of old and at the end of the opening over Bangladesh are 1/2. And Malinga is on a hat-trick as well

Teams:

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Upul Tharanga, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Perera(w), Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews(c), Thisara Perera, Dasun Shanaka, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal, Amila Aponso, Dilruwan Perera

Bangladesh (Playing XI): Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mahmudullah, Mohammad Mithun, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman

Big news is that Malinga is back into the Sri Lankan XI. Teams coming up in a bit.

Toss:Mortaza wins the toss and opts to bat first. "The heat is absolutely terrible" is the comment from Mathews but he accepts that the conditions are same for both sides.

Our man Prakash at the venue pings us this early update: "Hello from Dubai... It's a gentle 42 degrees here today."

With that out of the way, it is time for the toss and the teams which will happen shortly.

Reading material - check.

History - check.

Match preview - check.

Brief history of the Asia Cup

13 tournaments till date including one T20I edition in 2016

Most tournament wins: India 6

Sri Lanka 5

Most final losses: Sri Lanka 6

Most wins: Sri Lanka 35

Most losses: Bangladesh 35 out of 42 matches played

Buildup:

It is that time again! When the Asian giants collide with each other for regional supremacy. The Asia Cup is back in its latest avatar. Back to the 50-over format as we kick off things in the 2018 edition. The opening game of the tournament sees Pakistan taking on Bangladesh and that's a cue to welcome one and all to the live blog.

The big news coming into the tournament has to be the absence of Virat Kohli who has been rested and Rohit Sharma will captain in his absence. Can he lead his side to another title win? Can Pakistan change their ordinary ODI record in the UAE? Will Bangladesh finally win a major title? Or will Afghanistan spring a surprise and walk away with the title?

Answers to all of that and much more will be revealed in the next fortnight as six teams vie for the coveted trophy.

Before we go ahead further, here's some reading material to help you with what's happening around the tournament:

Read the series preview here

Don't think injuries will have an effect on us: Khaled Mahmud

Momentum the key for Asia Cup triumph: Sarfraz Ahmed

"Survival of the hydrated" writes Prakash in his preview as temperatures expected to hit 41 degrees in Dubai. Here's more