Almost-deceived Lankans have the last laugh

The Asia Cup encounter between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka yesterday in Dubai became an Asia Cup classic as the game lived up to its billing, triggered by a war of words and mind games from the two sides leading into the do-or-die fixture with the winner promised a place in the Super 4.

Bangladesh's batters rose to the occasion and tallied 183 after being asked to bat first, courtesy of the lesser-established players -- the likes of Mosaddek Hossain, Afif Hossain, and Mehedi Hasan Miraz -- making the most effective contributions to outshine the seniors.

Although the Tigers had set an above-par target, the job was still not even halfway done as the team batting second usually have the edge in the T20 format. Moreover, the inconsistent Bangladesh bowlers were under serious pressure, apparently more so after the war of words that surfaced before the heated encounter.

After Sri Lanka lost to Afghanistan in their tournament opener in convincing fashion on Saturday, the Sri Lanka captain had somewhat of a dig at the Tigers.

"Afghanistan have a world-class bowling attack. But when it comes to Bangladesh, I know that Mustafizur [Rahman] is a very good bowler and Shakib [Al Hasan] is a world-class bowler. But other than these two cricketers, they do not have any more world-class bowlers in their squad. That's why I think the match against Bangladesh will be less challenging than the game against Afghanistan," Shanaka had said.

That triggered a strong reply from the Bangladesh camp, led by team director Khaled Mahmud.

"I don't know why Dasun Shanaka said such a thing. I heard that he said Bangladesh do not have [quality] bowlers other than Shakib and Mustafizur. In fact, I do not see a single [quality] bowler in the Sri Lankan side," Sujon said during the pre-match press conference on Wednesday.

Even Mahela Jayawardene engaged in the war of words. The Lankan great shared what Mahmud said on social media and urged the Lankans to show their class and prove themselves on the pitch.

Ultimately, Sri Lanka had the laugh as the tense encounter went down to the wire.

The Tigers' wayward bowling at the death, coupled with them conceding 12 runs off wides and no-balls, tilted the game in the Lankans' favour. All in all, however, it was a total team-effort from the Tigers, right up there as one of their best performances in recent memory.

Earlier, it was pacer Ebadot Hossain who had given Bangladesh ample hope by picking up two wickets in his first T20I over. In Ebadot, Bangladesh had the trump card to catch the Lankans by surprise, presenting an out-of-syllabus problem, in the two teams' battle for survival in the marquee tournament.

"All warfare is based on deception," wrote renowned Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu in a famous military treatise "Art of War."

And indeed, this cricketing battle between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka was almost decided by deception. The Tigers got lucky by saving Ebadot to feature for the first time in the crucial encounter.

However, being deceptive alone was not enough since the end-game demanded holding nerves, where Sri Lanka surfaced as the superior artist.