COLOMBO - In a dramatic encounter, Mahmudullah finished the game with a maximum as Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka by two wickets to reach the final of the Nidahas Trophy where they will meet India for the trophy.

But in rather shocking scenes, Shakib al Hasan instructed his players to come off the field after some confusion regarding the umpire's call on the second ball of the final over.

Bangladesh thought that the umpire had signalled no ball which wasn't given. The ugly scenes led to both the teams clashing with each other, an incident which will surely warrant further inspection from the ICC.

It also took the limelight from what was otherwise a thrilling encounter, with the match going down to the wire. Set a target of 160, Bangladesh didn't start off well with opener Liton Das departing early and Sabbir Rahman also following suit.

Then, Bangladesh's most reliable pair - Mushfiqur Rahim (28) and Tamim Iqbal (50) got together, stitching a 64-run partnership which bought the visitors back into the game.

Sri Lanka then fought back valiantly, picking the two set players in quick succession. Soumya Sarkar and Shakib Al Hasan too departed quickly as it looked as if the visitors might pull off a stunning victory. But Mahmudullah had other plans as he showed great composure and scored an unbeaten 43 off just 18 balls to guide Bangladesh home.

Earlier, captain Thisara Perera and Kusal Perera struck half centuries as Sri Lanka recovered from a top-order batting collapse to post a competitive 159 for 7.

Put into bat, Sri Lanka were in all sort of trouble early in their innings against the Bangladeshi bowlers, led by young left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman whose incisive pace spell rocked the home side batsmen. But the Perera duo, Thisara (58) and Kusal (61) showed their mettle with a fine counter-attacking batting display to take their side past the 150-run mark.

Sri Lanka were 41 for 5 in the ninth over and they were staring at a meagre total but Thisara and Kusal had other ideas as the duo flayed the Bangladesh bowlers at the later stages of their innings.

Kusal ,who scored his third half century of the tournament, needed 40 deliveries for his 61. He hit seven fours and one six. Thisara, on the other hand, faced 37 balls for his 58 and struck three fours and as many sixes.

Bangladesh were, however, on top initially with their bowlers, led by Mustafizur Rahman (2/39), creating havoc on the home side top-order batsmen.

The 22-year-old Mustafizur, who was bought by Mumbai Indians for Rs 2.2 crores for the upcoming IPL season, had in-form Kushal Mendis (11) in the fourth over and then dimissed Dasun Shanaka (0) in his next over. At one stage, his figures read 2-1-4-2.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan gave the first breakthrough by claiming opener Danushka Gunathilaka (4) . Shakib struck in his comeback after he made it to the team after sitting out of the previous matches due to to a finger injury. Mustafizur was also involved in the run out of Upul Tharanga (5) in his second over, as the sixth over yielded two wickets.

The back of Sri Lankan batting was broken by the end of powerplay overs as they were reduced to 35 for 4 at the end of sixth over. Mehidy Hasan Miraz joined the party by removing Jeevan Mendis in the ninth over as Sri Lanka lost half of their batsmen for just 41 runs. This was before Thisara and Kusal resurrected the Sri Lankan innings with a stunning batting display.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

Danushka Gunathilaka c Sabbir b Shakib          4

Kusal Mendis c Soumya b Mustafizur   11

Kusal Perera c Mehedi b Soumya         61

Upul Tharanga run Out 5

Dasun Shanaka c Mushfiqur b Mustafizur          0

Jeevan Mendis c Mustafizur b Mehedi   3

Thisara Perera c Tamim b Rubel           58

Isuru Udana not out      7

Akila Dananjaya not out            1

EXTRAS: (4lb;5w)       9

TOTAL: (7 wkts; 20.0 overs)   159

FOW: 1-15, 2-22, 3-31, 4-32, 5-41, 6-138, 7-154

BOWLING: Shakib Al Hasan 2-0-9-1, Rubel Hossain 4-0-41-1, Mustafizur Rahman 4-1-39-2, Mehedi Hasan 4-0-16-1, Mahmudullah 4-0-29-0, Soumya Sarkar 2-0-21-1

BANGLADESH:

Tamim Iqbal c K Perera b Gunathilaka  50

Liton Das c T Perera b Dananjaya        0

Sabbir Rahman st K Perera b Dananjaya          13

Mushfiqur Rahim c T Perera b Aponso 28

Soumya Sarkar c K Perera b J Mendis 10

Mahmudullah not out    43

Shakib Al Hasan c Dananjaya b Udana 7

Mehedi Hasan run out Shanaka 0

Mustafizur Rahman run out        0

Rubel Hossain not out   0

EXTRAS; (lb, 9w)       9

TOTAL: (8 wkts; 19.5 overs)   160

FOW: 1-11, 2-33, 3-97, 4-105, 5-109, 6-137, 7-148, 8-148

BOWLING: Nuwan Pradeep 1-0-10-0, Akila Dananjaya 4-0-37-2, Amila Aponso 3-0-19-1, Thisara Perera 2-0-20-0, Danushka Gunathilaka 3-0-24-1, Jeevan Mendis 4-0-24-1, Isuru Udana 2.5-0-26-1

TOSS: Bangladesh

UMPIRES: R Palliyaguruge, R Wimalasiri

TV UMPIRE: Ranmore Martinesz

MATCH REFEREE: Brian Broad