Bangladesh batters had a 'good plan' coming into Asia Cup Super 4 game against SL

Dubai, Sep 20 (PTI) Bangladesh's 'Player of the match' Saif Hassan said that his batters had come out with a "good plan" to tackle the Sri Lankan bowlers and it worked really well in the Asia Cup Super 4 game, here on Saturday.

Bangladesh made heavy weather of the chase before crossing the finish line with one ball to spare. This was only the second victory in the last 16 games for Bangladesh while chasing a 160-plus target, and it came following half centuries from Hassan (61) and Towhid Hridoy (58).

"The wicket was very good and I tried to time my shots. Litton (Das) was helping me and it was easy batting with him. He was supporting a lot, he was telling what the next ball would be. Very happy to contribute. The preparation was good, we had a good plan against their (Sri Lankan) bowlers and that worked," said Hassan after the four-wicket win.

Bangladesh were in cruise mode before they lost a bunch of wickets in the penultimate and final over before Nasum Ahmed scored the winning run with one ball remaining.

Bangladesh skipper Littion Das gave credit to his bowlers Mustafizur Rahman (3/20) and Taskin (1/37), saying they managed to tie down the rival batters to a manageable total.

"Before the Asia Cup, we played a couple of series and we batted really well and we chased down comfortably. We all know how dangerous Mustafizur is. It looked like a pretty good wicket to bat on.

"Mustafizur's 19th over and Taskin's 20th over, they changed the game. It looked like 190 but they kept it down. Taskin bowled a really good (final) over. I know Saif (Hassan)can win games for Bangladesh. We all knew he's going to be a good player in UAE. I know his character and I know how he scores runs.

"Whenever you chase down like this, you are pumped up for the next game but we have to come again - new day, new team and we have to play our A game," said Das.

Sri Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka said his side could have done better.

"It was a terrific game. We held our nerves till the end but it wasn't enough. Pleased about our batting a little bit, we could have done better in the last two overs.

"We were 10-15 runs short. Dasun Shanaka batted really well at five. He hit a big six and the dressing room was happy with the score of almost 170." PTI AM AM PDS PDS