Watch: Maheesh Theekshana was at his ‘mysterious’ best as he reeled in a well-set Najmul Shanto with an off-spinner, only to deceive him with a carrom ball and knock his stumps over in the Asia Cup today (August 31).

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Batting first after winning the toss, Bangladesh’s innings was carried by Shanto, who scored a patient 89 off 122 balls. He didn’t get any support from the other end, however, as a result of which, the Bangladesh innings folded for 164. After Shanto, the next-highest scorer for Bangladesh was Towhid Hridoy, who made 20 off 41 balls.

As the Bangladesh innings crossed the 40-over mark, the onus fell firmly on Shanto as the lone steady scorer. Batting in the late eighties, Shanto would have been eyeing his second ODI century, but Theekshana had other plans.

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Theekshana had given Sri Lanka the perfect start earlier in the day, having removed debutant Tanzid Hasan in the second over of the innings, which turned out to be a wicket-maiden. He came back for his last spell in the 40th over.

After bowling a big, ripping off-break to Shanto on the first ball of the 42nd over of the innings, Theekshana smartly slipped in the quicker carrom ball that pitched on off, beat Shanto’s defence and hit his middle stump, ending his stoic resistance.

Matheesha Pathirana then cleaned up the tail to bowl Bangladesh out for 164. Theekshana finished with figures of 2-19, making this his seventh consecutive ODI where he has taken more than one wicket.

Watch Maheesh Theekshana clean up a well-set Najmul Shanto with a ripping carrom ball:

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Matheesha PathiranaMatch CoverageAsia CupVideosSeries EditorialAsia Cup