Ashraful scored highest 40 of 33 balls for Dhaka. Other batsmen did not allow Sylhet to come back into the match. Dhaka reach the target within 12.5 overs with 8 wickets in hand. Azhar Mahmood adjudged man of the match for his all round performance.

India abandoned their rotation policy and played all three senior batsmen. They also brought in a spinner in place of a fast bowler. They still leaked runs at the death. Their heavyweight top order still caved in cheaply.

Sri Lanka were on a different plane. Their old guard provided the base and the new order built on it to boost them to a substantial total. Their disciplined bowlers, led by Nuwan Kulasekara, dismantled a shaky India line-up, minus the in-form MS Dhoni, to take Sri Lanka into second position behind Australia with a game in hand. Parthiv Patel, Dhoni’s replacement, lasted seven deliveries and made 4.

Faced with a stiff chase, Virender Sehwag threw away his wicket yet again, Sachin Tendulkar wasted another start and Gautam Gambhir guided one straight to gully.

Sehwag had missed the previous two games and was stand-in captain today but that did not bring about any change in his approach. He went after the second delivery of the chase, a short and wide one from Lasith Malinga, reaching out to slice it tamely to third man.

Tendulkar and Gambhir played some pleasing strokes but Kulasekara snapped up both batsmen, a reward for disciplined line and full lengths. He kept Tendulkar guessing with a few that came in and some that moved away. The batsman was a little late in deciding to leave a good length delivery and edged it onto his stumps.

With two 90s as an opener in his previous three games, Gambhir dropped down to No. 3 to allow Sehwag and Tendulkar to open. He lasted longer than the two but ended up dabbing Kulasekara to gully after walking down the pitch.

Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina struggled initially but benefited from three dropped catches to keep India in the game with a 92-run partnership. Raina’s leading edge off Angelo Mathews was put down at point by Tillakaratne Dilshan. He was on 4 at the time. Kolhi was let off twice, both times by Dinesh Chandimal at deep midwicket, first on 14 off Thisara Perera, then on 32 off Malinga.

Raina could not capitalise, though, and, on 32, popped another leading edge, off Farveez Maharoof this time, straight to cover. Kohli carried on for a while longer but he was always battling against the climbing asking-rate and the thin batting. After having taken six runs off the first two balls of a Perera over, Kohli, on 66, looked to smash the third one and ended up slogging it to mid-on. Kohli’s departure left India 172 for 5, and with no chance against an asking-rate of over eight an over.

Irfan Pathan cracked a few boundaries to reduce the margin of defeat and deny Sri Lanka the bonus point, but the match had been decided much earlier, with Sri Lanka in control right from their opening partnership.

Mahela Jayawardene started the innings again, and gave Sri Lanka another strong start along with Tillakaratne Dilshan. Lahiru Thirimanne led the young middle order’s charge as Sri Lanka shrugged off the successive departures of their three senior batsmen in the middle overs.

India’s bowling followed a characteristic route, the spinners bringing them back in the middle of the innings before the fast bowlers and part-timers leaked runs at the death. Sri Lanka took 81 off the last eight overs, including 24 off two from Vinay Kumar, and 24 off two from Kohli and Raina.

Thirimanne kept the runs coming with some enterprising strokes to ensure 124 for 3 did not turn into something worse. Mathews, who backs himself to score from any position and in any situation, smashed 49 off 37 deliveries at No. 6 as India’s bowling came apart.

With Vinay and Umesh Yadav each having two overs left, Sehwag showed scant confidence in his quicks and turned to the part-time bowling of Raina and Kohli for the 49th and 50th overs respectively. The result was the same, as Mathews plundered more runs.

Sri Lanka’s final score was a reflection of the kind of start that their former captain and his replacement had given them. Jayawardene and Dilshan batted with assurance for 95 runs at over five an over and India did not look like making a breakthrough till Sehwag pulled off a stunning catch to send back Jayawardene. Dilshan punished the slightest width outside the off stump for boundaries.

India sneaked back through a double-strike. On 45, Jayawardene swung Pathan hard into the on side, but Sehwag got in the way with a big dive at midwicket, and held on to a sharp catch. Dilshan fell for 51 on the cut when R Ashwin got one to bounce.

Kumar Sangakkara came in and swung Yadav straight to fine leg, and at 124 for 3 Sri Lanka were in danger of frittering away an excellent start. Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal did not allow that to happen with a 71-run stand that came at a run-a-ball.

Thirimanne did not hold back with the big strokes. He favoured the off side, mostly point and third man, as he steered and dabbed for boundaries. Irfan ended Chandimal’s stay with a yorker on leg stump but India ran into Mathews next. The scoring-rate picked up, as the pair added 49 in seven overs.

Thirimanne’s batting was classy but the same could not be said about his backing up. Despite the changed law on run-outs while backing up, he repeatedly left his crease even before the bowlers were into their delivery stride. Ashwin was well within his rights to remove the bails in the 40th over as Thirimanne went walking early again, but India decided to withdraw the appeal in good spirit after a discussion with the umpires. It made no difference to Thirimanne, though, as he continued to take an early start at the non-striker’s end.

He eventually fell chipping Ashwin to sweeper cover but Mathews was around to lift Sri Lanka to a big total, which proved to be well beyond India’s reach.

Junaed said, I did not want to focus on my hundred. I wanted to stay unbeaten after winning the match. I am happy. Because, our team won. It was  Rajshahi’s 5 consecutive win in BPL.

Duronto Rajshahi completed the highest successful run-chase of the Bangladesh Premier League so far, knocking off the 193 required to beat Bairsal Burners in 17.1 overs for the loss of just one wicket. Barisal had set Rajshahi a daunting total, but Shahzaib Hasan and Junaid Siddique got the chase off to a blazing start with a partnership of 93 from just 6.4 overs.

Shahzaib fell for 46 off 22 balls, but Siddique continued to score quickly, and was given company by Marlon Samuels. Siddique hit five sixes and seven fours in his 89 off 51 balls, and Samuels struck three sixes in his 54 off 30 balls. The pair added 100 runs in 10.3 overs, and got Rajshahi home with 17 balls to spare.

Everything had seemed to be on track for Barisal when they chose to bat and got off to a quick start despite being without the injured Chris Gayle, who has flown to Durban ahead of the MiWAY T20 Challenge in South Africa. Ahmed Shehzad and Phil Mustard got them to 98 for 1 in the 12th over. Shehzad was dismissed for 44, but Mustard did not slow down, and was given support by Mithun Ali and then Rameez Raja. Mustard finished unbeaten on 88 off 58 balls, but Barisal’s 192 was not enough to beat Rajshahi.

In the high-scoring game, Rajshahi legspinner Monir Hossain’s figures of 4-0-19-1 were outstanding.

Following the match, Rajshahi’s coach, Khaled Mashud was penalised by match referee Mike Procter for entering the field of play during the strategic timeout. Mashud was fined 15,000 Taka since, as per the law, no officials are allowed onto the field during the course of play.

Khulna Royal Bengals’ spinners set up an unlikely win for their side, bowling out hosts Chittagong Kings for 93 while defending 137. The win puts Khulna at the top of the points table after seven matches.

Chittagong chose to bowl, and the decision seemed to pay off as they struck at regular intervals. None of Khulna’s top five could go past 20 and it was chiefly due to a 38-ball 42 from Man of the Match Nasir Hossain down the order that they were able to push on past a hundred. Enamul Haque jnr produced the best figures for Chittagong, claiming three middle-order wickets while conceding just 5.50 runs an over.

Khulna’s ploy of predominantly bowling spinners in the chase worked: they bowled 16 of the 18.1 overs it took to bowl out Chittagong. Legspinner Marshall Ayub was the most effective, taking four wickets for 20 in his four overs. The other wickets were shared among Abdur Razzak, Shakib Al Hasan and medium-pacer Dwayne Smith. The only batsman who could get past 12 in the chase was No. 3 Jason Roy, who picked up a couple of fours and sixes before being run out for 30.

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	Chittagong Kings innings (20 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	Nasir Jamshed	c Imran Nazir b Elias Sunny	27	51	32	2	0	84.37
	Jahurul Islam†	run out (Stevens/Mosharraf Hossain)	24	29	18	4	0	133.33
	JJ Roy	c Mohammad Ashraful b Elias Sunny	18	18	14	1	1	128.57
	Mahmudullah*	c Naved-ul-Hasan b Elias Sunny	10	24	15	0	0	66.66
	Faisal Hossain	run out (Aftab Ahmed/Naved-ul-Hasan)	2	4	2	0	0	100.00
	DJ Bravo	c Stevens b Naved-ul-Hasan	43	31	31	3	2	138.70
	Ziaur Rahman	not out	14	17	8	1	1	175.00
	K Cooper	not out	0	2	0	0	0	-
	Extras	(b 1, lb 3, w 11)	15
	Total	(6 wickets; 20 overs)	153	(7.65 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	Mashrafe Mortaza	4	0	31	0	7.75	(1w)
	Azhar Mahmood	4	0	44	0	11.00	(2w)
	Naved-ul-Hasan	4	0	35	1	8.75	(1w)
	Mosharraf Hossain	3	0	15	0	5.00
	Elias Sunny	4	0	17	3	4.25	(1w)
	Mohammad Ashraful	1	0	7	0	7.00	(2w)

	Dhaka Gladiators innings (target: 154 runs from 20 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	Imran Nazir	b Arafat Sunny	22	11	12	3	1	183.33
	Azhar Mahmood	b Arafat Sunny	1	15	9	0	0	11.11
	Anamul Haque†	c Ziaur Rahman b Enamul Haque jnr	3	16	8	0	0	37.50
	Mohammad Ashraful	run out (Ziaur Rahman/†Jahurul Islam)	28	18	14	2	2	200.00
	DI Stevens	not out	43	49	38	2	2	113.15
	KA Pollard	not out	50	43	34	3	3	147.05
	Extras	(lb 5, w 3, nb 1)	9
	Total	(4 wickets; 19 overs)	156	(8.21 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	DJ Bravo	3	0	42	0	14.00	(1nb)
	Arafat Sunny	4	0	12	2	3.00
	M Muralitharan	4	0	27	0	6.75	(1w)
	Enamul Haque jnr	4	0	24	1	6.00	(1w)
	Faisal Hossain	1	0	21	0	21.00
	Mahmudullah	3	0	25	0	8.33	(1w)

Match details

See the scorecard below:

Barisal Burners innings (20 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	Ahmed Shehzad	b Shafiul Islam	0	1	3	0	0	0.00
	CH Gayle	c Russell b Shafiul Islam	2	17	10	0	0	20.00
	BJ Hodge	b Shakib Al Hasan	12	20	16	2	0	75.00
	P Mustard	lbw b Shakib Al Hasan	25	28	19	4	0	131.57
	Shahriar Nafees*	c Abdur Razzak b Jayasuriya	6	14	15	0	0	40.00
	Mithun Ali†	run out (Shafiul Islam/†Saghir Hossain)	1	1	1	0	0	100.00
	Yasir Arafat	b Jayasuriya	10	13	10	1	0	100.00
	Mominul Haque	c Chanderpaul b Shahadat Hossain	42	34	24	4	2	175.00
	Suhrawadi Shuvo	c Abdur Razzak b Russell	8	14	11	0	0	72.72
	Nazmul Islam	run out (Chanderpaul/†Saghir Hossain/Shahadat Hossain)	10	16	9	0	0	111.11
	Al-Amin Hossain	not out	2	4	2	0	0	100.00
	Extras	(lb 2, w 5)	7
	Total	(all out; 20 overs)	125	(6.25 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	Shafiul Islam	3	0	7	2	2.33
	Shakib Al Hasan	4	1	19	2	4.75
	Nasir Hossain	3	0	23	0	7.66
	Abdur Razzak	3	0	16	0	5.33	(2w)
	ST Jayasuriya	2	0	17	2	8.50	(1w)
	AD Russell	3	0	26	1	8.66
	Shahadat Hossain	2	0	15	1	7.50	(2w)

	Khulna Royal Bengals innings (target: 126 runs from 20 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	S Chanderpaul	b Suhrawadi Shuvo	27	37	26	1	2	103.84
	HH Gibbs	b Nazmul Islam	11	18	14	2	0	78.57
	DR Smith	not out	58	48	41	3	4	141.46
	ST Jayasuriya	c Al-Amin Hossain b Suhrawadi Shuvo	23	20	18	0	2	127.77
	Shakib Al Hasan*	not out	5	7	5	0	0	100.00
	Extras	(lb 4, w 3)	7
	Total	(3 wickets; 17.2 overs)	131	(7.55 runs per over)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	CH Gayle	3.2	0	19	0	5.70	(2w)
	Yasir Arafat	2	0	13	0	6.50
	Nazmul Islam	2	0	28	1	14.00
	Al-Amin Hossain	3	0	23	0	7.66
	Ahmed Shehzad	4	0	24	0	6.00
	Suhrawadi Shuvo	3	0	20	2	6.66

Dhoni’s composure was best measured by how he paced his innings. It bordered on the statuesque early, before he raised tempo with swift running between the wickets. He saved his one stroke to the boundary – a towering six over long on – for when he most needed it: the third ball of the final over delivered by Clint McKay, which began with 13 still required.

The next ball was a high full toss that Dhoni swung to deep midwicket, but the no-ball – called for height – gifted India a third run in addition to the two scampered between the wickets. The next delivery was helped around to backward square leg, and the final three runs were collected to take India alongside Australia on two wins from three matches.

India’s chase was anchored by Gautam Gambhir’s fluent 92, before Dhoni and Suresh Raina took the visitors close with a stand of 61. Raina perished in the 47th over and Ravindra Jadeja followed in the 49th, but Dhoni remained to collar the remaining runs. Test match difficulties notwithstanding, he remains the master technician in limited-overs matches.

Australia’s fielding display was its least attentive of the Michael Clarke era. Only one catch of note went down but outfield fumbles were legion, and both Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja could have been run-out in the closing stages had in-fielders held their nerve.

Of even greater concern was an apparent hamstring twinge for Michael Clarke, who was running gingerly from the innings’ midpoint and hobbling noticeably by the end, having left the field briefly for treatment. Clarke may now be due a spell of rest after an unbroken sequence of Tests and ODIs dating back to his first tour as captain – to Bangladesh in April 2011.

Until the final over, McKay provided the most lasting threat for the home attack, maintaining a disciplined line and changing his pace, while Xavier Doherty bowled some particularly nagging deliveries at the death to make India work for the points.

Looking very much at home in international company, the debutant Peter Forrest had built Australia’s total alongside David Hussey after the innings was in danger of stalling at 3 for 81. Clarke’s fluent 38 had ended when he sallied forth to attack Umesh Yadav and dragged a slower ball wretchedly onto the stumps.

Forrest was strong square of the wicket and down the ground, while Hussey’s innings was another reminder of his usefulness in most limited-overs contests. Following their departure, allrounder Daniel Christian put together a handy closing contribution at the home ground of his adopted state. Few boundaries were collected in the closing overs, reflecting some diligent bowling but also the slowing of an otherwise friendly batting surface.

Yadav and Zaheer Khan were the most effective of India’s bowlers, attacking the stumps while also keeping the runs down, as the tourists sought a manageable target after the selectors chose to rest Sachin Tendulkar.