It was a vital series win for the Tigers, especially when it comes to ODIs, given that they had a horrendous time in their ‘favourite’ format last year.

They came out victorious in only 11 out of the 32 games they played last year while they lost 18 games with three matches ending without any results.

Bangladesh’s recent ODI series triumph over the islanders came courtesy of some impressive individual performances as well as some collective teamwork. The Daily Sun looks back at five key performances or incidents that led the Tigers to their second successive ODI series win against the neighbouring nation, having won the maiden one back in 2021.

The newly-appointed all-format skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto delivered a series-winning performance against the Lankans. He scored 163 runs in three innings at an average of 81.5 and a strike rate of 94.2, with scores of 122 not out, 40 and one respectively. Najmul was impressive as a captain as well as he handled the pressure of overcoming the poor performances of the team in the past year, and the recent T20I series loss against Sri Lanka, to lead them to a fantastic series win.

Youngsters deliver at the right time

Bangladeshi youngsters – Tawhid Hridoy, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Rishad Hossain and Tanzid Hasan Tamim – put up a good show throughout the series upon their given chances. Tanzim shone in the first game picking up three top-order wickets, to bring Bangladesh back into the game. Hridoy scored a career-best unbeaten 96 to help Bangladesh post a fighting total of 286 after they were struggling at one point during the second game which they lost by just three wickets. Tanzid, who came in as a concussion substitute for Soumya Sarkar in the decider, scored a blistering 81-ball 84 with nine fours and four sixes, which is the most ever scored by a concussion substitute in ODIs. However, Rishad stole the spotlight at the end, scoring an unbeaten 18-ball 48 runs to help the hosts secure a four-wicket victory. He also picked up a wicket earlier in the same contest.

The selection panel of the Bangladesh team sent a strong message to the players during the series against Sri Lanka, first, by overlooking Mustafizur Rahman for the first two ODIs and then by dropping Liton Das for the series decider by stating that he was too inconsistent against the new ball. The attempt to halt the ‘auto-choice’ culture that has long existed in Bangladesh cricket brought a breath of fresh air to the country’s cricket and the omission of under-performing cricketers also sent a clear message to the players in the national team that they will have to earn their spots only through their performances.

Pacers rising to the occasion

The Bangladesh pacers put up a really good performance throughout the series, picking up 19 out of the 27 wickets that Bangladesh took in the three matches, Taskin Ahmed was the highest wicket-taker of the series, picking up eight wickets, going at 5.21 runs per over. He picked up three wickets each, at crucial times, in the two matches which the Tigers won.

Mushfiqur aging like fine wine

Mushfiqur Rahim, who has often been criticized for his poor wicket-keeping, answered his critics by effecting 10 caught-behinds in the three-match ODI series. He also amassed 135 runs in the three matches, out of which he guided the Tigers to victory by staying unbeaten on two occasions.