Sri Lankan pacer Nuwan Thushara on Saturday produced a wonderful hattrick to put Sri Lanka in a dominating position against Bangladesh in the BAN vs SL 3rd T20I. The hattrick will go a long way in deciding the fate of the series. The series is at the moment tied at 1-1.
In the series decider at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl first. Sri Lanka rode on Kusal Mendis’ 86 to post a total of 174 at the end of 20 overs. With the small boundaries of the Sylhet Stadium, the score looked very much achievable for Bangladesh but Thushara had other plans.
After Dhananjaya de Silva produced the first breakthrough for Sri Lanka by removing Liton Das, it was time for the Thushara show. On the second ball of his first over, Thushara started his onslaught by removing Najmul Shanto. Towhid Hridoy departed in the next ball as Thushara cleaned him up. Mahmadullah, facing Thushara’s hattrick ball, was trapped dead in front of the wicket, bringing up Thushara’s hattrick.
Thushara didn’t stop there. On his second over, he got the better of Soumya Sarkar who was just starting to get going.
Bangladesh were put firmly on the backfoot owing to Thushara’s brilliance. Shanto’s team now need an extraordinary batting performance from the remaining batters to get Bangladesh over the line.
