Bangladesh have crushed Sri Lanka in the second Twenty20 International by eight wickets to level the home series 1-1.

Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto (53 off 38) finished the chase of 166 for a victory in style with 11 balls in hand, hitting a six over deep backward square leg to earn his half-century and take his side to 170 at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Shanto, who smashed four boundaries and two sixes, was supported by Towhid Hridoy (32 off 25) after openers Litton Das (36 off 24) and Soumya Sarkar (26 off 22) gave a strong foundation to the chase.

Sri Lankan bowlers could not make any significant impact on Bangladesh in the hosts’ breezy chase. Matheesha Pathirana took both of the wickets to fall.

Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and opted to field first, a decision that appeared to be working as Shoriful Islam and Rishad Hossain kept the visitors from pushing the run rate while Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Mahedi Hassan and Soumya chipped away at the wickets at regular intervals. 

They were able to limit Sri Lanka to 165 for 5 after the tourists edged the Tigers by only four runs in a last-over thriller in the first match.

The sides will clash in the series decider on Saturday.