Mirpur: An outstanding performance Sabbir Rahman (80 off 54 balls) during their batting, followed by some spirited bowling by Shakib Al Hasan (2/21 in 4 overs), Al-Amin Hossain (3/34 in 4 overs) and Mustafizur Rahman (1/19 in 4 overs) helped Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup T20 match at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on Sunday.

Though they lost three quick wickets (Mohammad Mithun 0, Soumya Sarkar 0, Mushfiqur Rahim 4), Rahman played a fantastic innings at the top, making 80 runs, including 10 fours and 3 sixes, which helped the hosts score 147 in their allotted 20 overs.

Though 147 did not seem to a big score once Dinesh Chnadimal and D Jayasuriya started forging a second wicket partnership, the Bangladeshi bowlers did not give up and and defended the total in front of the home crowd to beat Sri Lanka for the first time in T20.

Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said, "In T20, we have always struggled a bit. This was a good win for us. The wicket was pretty good to bat on. With 147 on board, you can still fight it out. After we missed out a couple of catches, we stood up and did our best. The wicket was on the slow side today. Shakib played a big role along with Mahmudullah, but Sabbir was brilliant."

Sri Lankan Angelo Mathews, meanwhile, said his team lost the way in the middle. “We could have just milked it around after we got the initial start. We just lost our way, and once we hit that 12-runs-an-over mark, we just kept losing wickets. Credit to Bangladesh for bowling and fielding well. We could have taken better options, but we kept losing wickets through the middle section. We have to be patient. It's a learning curve for all of us. It will be hard work, we'll need to beat India and Pakistan to qualify for the final, and we'll try our best."

Sabbir Rahman, who was man-of-the-match, said, “It was a good opportunity to come in early. I just rotated the strike and played to my strengths.”