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'It Was Painful...,' Theekshana Reveals His Struggle In Match-Winning Spell vs BAN

image-lmcd0fyhMaheesh Theekshana Celebrating With His Teammates (Source: AP Newsroom)

It turned out to be a classic game of cricket at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo as the home side, Sri Lanka, defeated the tough Bangladesh side by a close margin of 21 runs in the Asia Cup 2023. Lankans posted 257 runs on the board on the back of an outstanding innings from Sadeera Samarawickrama, scoring 93.

In reply, Bangladesh started well but soon lost their way after the end of the first powerplay, however, a decent partnership in the middle held the innings together. They were easing towards victory when mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana came in and picked three wickets at a very crucial juncture of the game to pull his side back into the contest.

His effort resulted in the Dasun Shanaka-led side registering victory, and all this happened after he suffered a blow to his hand in the first innings while batting, causing him acute pain, which he expressed in the post-match interview.

Also, he explained his plan and how his side were going for the win, as his experience came in handy during the latter stages of the game. He mentioned that his clear plan was to bowl wicket to wicket so that they are able to generate more chances for bowled and LBW.

"I just went with my basics, bowled the second over, came back for another 3-over spell, I later came back with the old ball and used my experience to take wickets. It was painful (about the injury), but it doesn't matter when you're playing for the country. Today, someone else took the wickets. The plan was to bowl wicket to wicket, get dismissals either bowled or LBW, we had the team set to do it as well."

After this victory, both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will go on to play against India, with their respective matches happening on the 12th and 15th of September.