Lasith Malinga it was who started it. Lasith Malinga it was who ended it. The veteran pacer got a fitting farewell in his last ODI as an all-round performance from the Lankans helped them beat Bangladesh by 91 runs in the first match at Colombo.
Chasing 315 to win, Bangladesh were bowled out for 223. Mushfiqur Rahim (67) and Sabbir Rahman (60) were the top scorers for the visitors. For the home side, Malinga (3/38) and Nuwan Pradeep (3/51) did most of the damage.
The 35-year-old slinger, playing his last ODI, gave the Sri Lankans a perfect start, yorking Bangladesh stand-in skipper Tamim Iqbal (0) off the fifth ball in the first over. His fellow opener Soumya Sarkar (15) and Mohammed Mithun (10) played cautiously to put on 30 runs, but both were dismissed in consecutive overs by Malinga and Pradeep.
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Mahmudullah (3) was the next one to go, to leave Bangladesh reeling at 39/4.
Former skipper Rahim and Rahman stemmed the rot with a 111-run partnership. But it was a tough task for the visitors, who were playing without world no. 1 all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan. Once Rahman fell to de Silva in a rush of blood, holing out to deep-midwicket, it was a matter of delaying the inevitable. With wickets falling at the other end, Rahim, who was limping a bit, tried a ramp shot only to be caught down the leg side off Pradeep.
Fittingly, Malinga wrapped up the match in his final over in his ODI career, foxing Mustafizur Rahman (18) with a slower ball, and making him hit high in the air for Thisara Perera to take the catch at mid-off.
The veteran pacer ended with 338 wickets in 226 matches at 28.87.
Earlier, Kusal Perera scored a quick-fire century to power Sri Lanka to 314/8. He scored 111 off 99 balls with 17 fours and a six, his fifth ODI century, as Sri Lanka punished Bangladesh's wayward bowling after skipper Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and elected to bat first.
Perera put on 97 runs with Karunaratne for the second wicket before adding 100 with Kusal Mendis for the third to set up the platform for a strong total.
Shafiul Islam, finished with 3/62 in his first match in three years
Angelo Mathews took Sri Lanka's total past the 300-run mark with 48 off 52 balls. Malinga was unbeaten on six in his final ODI innings.
(With PTI inputs)
