Bad batting and fielding reasons for Sri Lanka's heavy defeat

Batting combinations continue to haunt Sri Lanka

- By Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka's much vaunted fielding was put to the test in the second T20I against Bangladesh and they came up second best when two crucial chances offered by Bangladesh skipper Litton Das — a stumping chance at 30 by Kusal Mendis and a dropped catch at 56 by Maheesh Theekshana at mid-off, the unfortunate bowler on both occasions being leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay — were missed, which proved to be costly and led to Sri Lanka's 83-run defeat at Dambulla.

Das, who had been out of form till then, went on to score 76 off 50 balls and forged two important partnerships worth 69 with Towhid Hridoy and 77 with Shamim Hossain that enabled Bangladesh to post a challenging score of 177-7.

Fielding was not the only reason the team lost so badly, but also an indifferent batting performance that saw Sri Lanka shot out for their lowest ever T20I total (94) on home soil.