Tigers face off Sri Lanka in 1st ODI tomorrow

Emboldened by the home advantage, Bangladesh is seeking a winning start in the three-match series against Sri Lanka, which is the part of ICC Super League as they take on the Island nation tomorrow (Sunday) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

The match starts at 1 PM and will be aired live at Gazi TV and T Sports. The series is viewed as must-win assignment for the Tigers with the 2023 World Cup qualification in mind.

Bangladesh made a winning start in the ICC ODI Super League with a 3-0 series win over West Indies in last January, which was their fifth in sixth bilateral series at home but conceded the position after their 0-3 loss at the hands of New Zealand in away tour.

With Bangladesh hardly winning the matches at abroad, the home series against Sri Lanka is their chance to amass as many points as they can in the home series. And a winning start would definitely boost their chance to win the series.

Bangladesh currently is in sixth position with 30 points in the ICC ODI Super League table, led by England with 40 points. Sri Lanka is languishing at the bottom of the table with -2 points after being whitewashed in three-match series against West Indies.

Despite being in the cornered position in ODI Super League standings, Sri Lanka opted for youth over experience, leaving out trusted seniors like Angelo Mathews, Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne, and thrusting wicket-keeper batsman Kusal Perera into the leadership role.

Bangladesh however named a full-strength side with Shakib Al Hasan returning to squad after missing two tours—a limited over series against New Zealand and a Test tour in Sri Lanka.

With Sri Lanka coming here with a depleted and inexperienced side, it is believed they are no match for the Tigers, who are terrific at home condition in ODI format of cricket.

But at the same time, what ailed Bangladesh is that they’ve gone winless in their last 10 international games – four Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is – over the last four months after their 3-0 win over West Indies in ODI series.

Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal therefore cautioned against complacency, saying that there is no reason to underestimate Sri Lanka despite they are without some of their big stars and experienced players.

“Obviously experience matters but at the end of the day you will have to perform because you will have to take the game to that point when experience will come into act,” Tamim said ahead of the first ODI.

“We have played against Sri Lanka at various levels previously and we are aware that it won’t be easy. We have to be at more than a hundred percent to beat them,” he added.

Tamim also said superstar Shakib Al Hasan will bat at his favoured No.3, a position where he excelled during the 2019 World Cup, scoring 606 runs in just eight matches. Nazmul Hossain Shanto who batted in this position in the last two ODI series was dropped.

“I will be the happiest person if Shakib could replicate his World Cup form in this position but we all know what he did during that time was exceptional and an every match you can’t do that. So there will be no complaint if he couldn’t do that. I will not be panicked,” Tamim remarked.

The series is also the chance for Bangladesh to reduce the gap in the win-loss ratio against Sri Lanka.

If the stat is taken into consideration, Sri Lanka has the upper-hand over Bangladesh, winning 39 of the 48 matches, the two teams played in this format.

Bangladesh won just seven matches and the rest of the two matches fetched no result. Most of Bangladesh seven wins came after they are forced to be reckoned with in this format.