Sri Lanka captain Kusal Perera scored a brilliant century to guide his side to a total of 286/6 in the first innings of the third and final ODI against Bangladesh here at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. 

For the hosts, Taskin Ahmed picked four wickets to pull back things after Perera’s century. 

Dhananjaya de Silva’s fifty gave Sri Lanka the much-needed finishing touch. 

Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first, Perera and opener Danushka Gunathilaka gave visitors a solid start by attacking Bangladesh’s key bowlers. 

However, Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed took two wickets in an over of opener Danushka Gunathilaka and Pathum Nissanka to bring hosts back in the game. Gunathilaka was clean bowled by Ahmed on 39 in the 12th over of the innings while. Nissanka failed once again as he was sent back by Taskin in the same over on a duck.

Sri Lanka skipper build another partnership with Kusal Mendis to take his team’s score near 150 but again Taskin was brought back into the attack and he removed Mendis in the 26th over on 22.

After the wicket of Mendis, Kusal was sent back by Shoriful Islam in the 40th over. Kusal scored 120 runs in 122 balls with the help of 11 boundaries and one maximum. This is his sixth ODI century. Wanindu Hasaranga played a little cameo in the end with Dhananjaya de Silva who scored fifty in 70 balls. 

For hosts, Taskin claimed four wickets while Shoriful Islam picked up one. 

-Agencies