Asia Cup 2025: Why Sri Lankan team are wearing black armbands in today's SL vs BAN Super 4 match?

subhradeep-choudhury — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 22:52:24 GMT

Why Sri Lankan team are wearing black armbands in today's SL vs BAN Super 4 match?

Before the start of the opening clash of the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the players showed a great spirit of solidarity as they wore black armbands to observe a minute’s silence to pay homage to the left-arm spinner of Sri Lanka, Dunith Wellalage’s father, Suranga.

The one-minute silence was observed before the national anthem to honor the former player, who passed away during Sri Lanka’s last group-stage clash against Afghanistan on September 18. Dunith Wellalage received incredible support from the cricket fraternity around the world during the difficult phase.

The spin all-rounder left the national camp after the end of the last game and attended his father’s funeral before rejoining the team on September 20. He has also been named in the playing eleven for the vital clash against Bangladesh. Wellalage has shown great courage and mental strength in this aspect in his short life.

Sri Lankan team are wearing black armband in today SL vs BAN Super 4 match in Asia Cup 2025

Bangladesh captain Litton Das won the toss and decided to bowl first on a surface he expected to get slow in the second innings. Mehedi Hasan and Shoriful Islam came into the eleven with the management deciding to drop Nurul Hasan and Rishad Hossain from the team. Sri Lanka went unchanged in the eleven.

The wicket-keeper batter, Kusal Mendis, clubbed 34 runs in 25 balls at a strike rate of 136 with the help of three over boundaries and one six. The best contribution came from Dasun Shanaka, who nailed an unbeaten knock of 64 runs in 37 balls at a strike rate of 172.97, shouldering on three boundaries and six sixes as they posted 168/7 in their allotted 20 overs.

Sri Lanka, in reply, was at a good position at around 82 runs in around 10 overs. Saif Hassan drilled undefeated 47 runs in 33 balls at a strike rate of 142.42. Their wicket-keeper batter, Litton Das, was undefeated on 23 runs in 16 balls.