It was a good Friday morning for Bangladesh team not only because Mohammad Ashraful won his first toss but also in the way his bowlers responded to vindicate his decision against a formidable batting line-up.

Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayewardene all failing simultaneously is not a common scene for the Lankans but Bangladesh's new ball pair Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Syed Rasel made it possible yesterday to give their side an upper-hand.

But everything went in vain in the end for the Tigers and the reason was as usual: senseless batting.

"It was a competitive score but not a winning total", was the honest confession from Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayewardene, who praised Dilhara Fernando for winning the match single-handedly, after his side's 234-run total batting first at the P Sara Stadium.

"The wicket was very flat in the second session, so it was not easy for the bowlers," said man of the match Fernando, the well-built pacer who demolished the Bangladesh top order by taking four wickets, and made it clear that it was actually the Bangladesh batsmen who gifted them the emphatic 70-run victory in the end.

Understandably Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful also admitted that they lost a very good chance to win the match against the world's second-ranked side at their own den.

"No doubt we had a very good chance," said a fuming Ashraful, who never looked in such a devastating mood in the tour even after his side had suffered humiliating defeats in the Test series when he appeared yesterday during the post-match briefing.

But was there any valid reason for the new Bangladesh captain to claim that 'they missed an opportunity' after the way he himself and his other top order batsmen threw away their wickets to show yet again that they have hardly learnt from mistakes?

If sending Shakib Al Hasan, who has a lack of confidence, to the number four position was his first mistake than the right-hander made a serious offence in the way he tried to pull a short pitch delivery from Dilhara when he was supposed to be leading his side from the front.

That's why it sounded ridiculous when he demanded that his side had the plan of completing fifty overs to win the game.

"I must agree that it was not an impossible task to achieve. We were very confident during the lunch break that we can go on to win another game. We had a plan to complete fifty overs and Tamim and Nafees started according to plan but suddenly we lost they way. Our bowlers created an opportunity for us but the batsmen simply spoiled it," he said.

"I also had a plan to finish the game that's why I decided to go in at number five but I played a very very bad shot. The most frustrating thing was that the wicket behaved so good in the second session," he admitted like he has done in every occasions after making the same mistakes.

Fernando however said that Ashraful fell in their trap by playing the mistimed pull shot. "We know that Ashraful always loves to play the pull shot against the short pitch delivery and that was the reason I trapped him to play the shot," said the 28-year old paceman, who returned with his career best figure of 4-24 in the match.

It is impossible to comment whether the Bangladesh team will take any lesson from the defeat but Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayewardene ensured that they definitely learnt a lesson despite the comprehensive victory.

"We have to be careful against them in the one-day game although we won the match by a quite convincing margin. In longer-version game it was easy to put pressure on them but they can be dangerous in the shorter-version competition which is what they even proved today," said Mahela.