Bangladesh bundled out for 164 despite Shanto's 89 against Sri Lanka

Bangladesh struggled with the bat in their Asia Cup opener against Sri Lanka in Pallekele on Thursday. They were bundled for 164 runs against the hosts and that was mostly contributed by the lone warrior Najmul Hossain Shanto.

The southpaw missed his second ODI hundred but 89 off 122 balls was easily the only positive for Bangladesh. 

Sri Lanka dominated the proceedings right from the word go after being asked to bowl first. There were no big partnerships, no big score, or no sight of domination of the least from Bangladesh. 

Debutant Tanzid Hasan Tamim had a debut to forget. He departed in the second over for a duck. The spin of Maheesh Theekshana honestly looked mysterious to him as he was trapped LBW facing the very second delivery of his international career. The 'new' Tamim looked, and he actually was clueless.

Naim Sheikh struggled too. He played his career-best innings (16), yes, but he never looked comfortable. His 16-run innings of 25 balls consisted of 15 dot balls and three boundaries.

Shanto came in at number three. He survived an early scare but looked the most comfortable of all batters for his 89. He saw six batters getting out from the other end but he kept on fighting. His innings consisted of seven boundaries at a strike rate of 72.95. 

No other bat got a go. Towhid Hridoy's 20 off 41 balls was the second-highest score for the struggling batting side. Mushfiqur Rahim was the only other bat to get past the 10-run mark.

Seven batters got out for single digit mark and three of them went for a duck.

For Sri Lanka, Matheesha Pathirana picked up four wickets for 32 runs while mysterious Theekshana bagged a brace.