Winning the toss and electing to bat under bright sunny skies on Saturday morning (October 3, 2026), Sri Lanka endured a nightmare start against Bangladesh’s frontline spin attack. Mystery spinner Aliss Al Islam and off-spinner Sheikh Mahedi Hasan dismantled the top order, reducing Sri Lanka to 4 wickets down within the first 4 overs. Aliss bowled an exceptionally tight opening spell, conceding just 7 runs in 3 overs with 12 dot balls, while Sheikh Mahedi ended his 4-over spell with figures of 2 for 19. However, the momentum shifted dramatically from the 14th over when Bangladesh captain Litton Das introduced Mustafizur Rahman. Sri Lanka's lower-order batters Sahan Arachchige and Tharindu Ratnayake capitalized on the pace, plundering 83 runs between overs 13 and 18. Mustafizur conceded 25 runs in his opening over and finished with figures of 2/43 in 3 overs, while leg-spinner Rishad Hossain gave away 21 runs in his final over. Ratnayake anchored the late surge with an explosive 65 off 32 balls before Mustafizur dismissed him in the 19th over. Spinner Saif Hassan picked up two late wickets in the final over, restricting Sri Lanka to 165/9.