Dilshan's hundred powers Lanka to facile win

Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by eight wickets with 32 balls remaining under the Duckworth-Lewis method in the first one-day international here on Saturday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Opener Tamim Iqbal scored a well-crafted 112 (136b, 10x4, 1x4) and Nasir Hossain made a quickfire unbeaten 73 (59b, 6x4, 3x6) as Bangladesh posted a competitive 259 for eight in 50 overs. A floodlit failure delayed the start of Lanka’s chase, while the technical snag also resulted in the home side losing nine overs. But it hardly made any difference to the attitude of the Lankans as they hunted down the renewed target -- 238 in 41 overs -- with vigour.

Led by an aggressive unbeaten hundred by opener Tillkaratne Dilshan (113 n.o.; 108b, 11x4) and a well-paced fifty by Kumar Sangakkara (63, 68b, 6x4), Lanka reached the target in 35.4 overs, more than five overs pending. Dilshan and his partner at the pole position, Kusal Perera (42), gave the Lankans an excellent platform adding 106 runs in just 12.1 overs. The threatening alliance was snapped by Shohag Gazi, who dismissed Perera.

But the dismissal brought old hands Dilshan and Sangakkara together and the two in-form batsmen took the remaining fight out of Bangladesh with a punishing 128-run stand for the second wicket that came off in nearly  23 overs. When Sangakkra got out to Rubel Hossain, Lanka were just four runs short of the target with plenty to spare.

Tamim ruled out

Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal will miss the last two one-day internationals against Sri Lanka after injuring his right thumb while fielding in Saturday's defeat. Tamim (112), who hit his country's first one-day century against Sri Lanka, went to hospital for an X-ray after the opening game of the series and was told he had a hairline fracture. "He will be out for the rest of the series," team physio Vibhav Singh told reporters. Tamim has only just returned to full fitness after sustaining a wrist injury in the Bangladesh Premier League in February.