Perera stars in Sri Lanka win

PALLEKELE: Kusal Perera smashed a brisk 64 to set up Sri Lanka’s 17-run victory over Bangladesh in a one-off Twenty20 international in Pallekele yesterday.
The opener hit four sixes and five fours in his 44-ball knock as Sri Lanka posted a challenging 198-5 before restricting Bangladesh to 181-7.
Mohammad Ashraful top-scored for Bangladesh with a 27-ball 43 while seamers Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera each bagged two wickets for Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh suffered a setback after reaching 68-2 in the eighth over as Ashraful was given out leg-before. He hit seamer Thisara Perera for two successive sixes and then a four in the same over.
Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (39) and Mohammad Mahmudullah (31) kept Bangladesh’s hopes alive with a 50-run stand for the fifth wicket before both fell in the 15th over to leave their team struggling at 137-6.
Perera hit seamer Shahadat Hossain for two fours and a six in the first over of the match before smashing two more sixes, one each off spinners Sohag Gazi and Razzak.
He completed his maiden T20 half-century in the eighth over with two runs to mid-wicket off Mahmudullah.
Shahadat conceded 54 runs in four overs, including 24 in his last.
Younis dropped
Pakistan yesterday omitted out-of-form Younis Khan from a 30-man initial squad for the eight-nation Champions Trophy after the middle order batsman flopped in recent one-day matches. The 35-year-old Younes managed just 116 runs in the series against South Africa earlier this month which Pakistan lost 3-2 and has not managed to score a century since November 2008.
Pakistan is in group B of the event to be held in England from June 3-23. The other teams in their group are arch rivals India, the West Indies and South Africa.