Ratnayake, bowlers secure bronze medal for Sri Lanka

In a game dictated by bowlers, Tharindu Ratnayake’s counter-attacking 65 became a big difference as Sri Lanka downed Bangladesh to secure the bronze medal at the Asian Games 2026. Sri Lanka were in dire straits at 54 for 5 in the 11th over when Ratnayake and Sahan Arachchige combined forces for a blazing 93-run stand. It powered Sri Lanka to 165/9 after which Bangladesh were bundled out for 102, with Ratnayake among four bowlers to pick two wickets each.

Sri Lanka had the winds knocked out of their sails early after Arachchige chose to bat in the medal fixture. Mahedi and Aliss Al Islam wiped out the top four inside the Powerplay, leaving them at 21/4 in the fourth over. Ashen Bandara and Arachchige arrested the slide briefly to take the team past 50 and the Powerplay. But Rishad Hossain dismissed Bandara to reduce Sri Lanka to 54/5 in the 11th over. Then came the whirlwind partnership – 93 off 44 – between Ratnayake and Arachchige, with the former smashing 65 of it. The Sri Lankan captain enjoyed the best seat in the house as Ratnayake’s essay came off just 35 balls and included seven fours and five sixes.

The stand flew off the blocks with a 25-run over off Mustafizur Rahman and followed that up by picking 16 off Rishad. Sri Lanka took 61 off the last five overs, which included a 21-run over from Rishad to complete Sri Lanka’s recovery. As it turned out, their total was well beyond Bangladesh’s reach as they too suffered a batting implosion.

Bangladesh’s top-three – Saif Hasan, Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das, all fell for ducks as Bangladesh were down to 4/3 in the third over. Towhid Hridoy became Ratnayake’s second wicket in the Powerplay as Bangladesh fell to 18/4 in the fourth over. Parvez Hossain and Yasir Ali dragged the team past the Powerplay but they couldn’t consolidate in the middle overs.

Vijayakanth Viyaskanth broke the stand with Parvez’s wicket and triggered another collapse. Bangladesh went from 50/5 to 72/8 in the space of 18 deliveries, the chase now well beyond their reach. Sri Lanka’s bowling quartet of Ratnayake (2-18), Nuwan Thushara (2-18), Vijayakanth Viyaskanth (2-26), Wanuja Sahan (2-17) did all of the damage as Bangladesh were bowled out for 102 – 63 short of their target.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 165/9 in 20 overs (Tharindu Ratnayake 65; Mahedi Hasan 2-19, Saif Hasan 2-28) beat Bangladesh 102 in 17.3 overs (Nasum Ahmed 26; Nuwan Thushara 2-18, Tharindu Ratnayake 2-18, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 2-26, Wanuja Sahan 2-17) by 63 runs