Sri Lanka ready to face Bangladesh challenge today

Both coaches, Chris Silverwood of Sri Lanka and Chandika Hathurusingha of Bangladesh are determined to see their teams emerge victorious today when Sri Lanka meet Bangladesh in their Super Four game of the Asia Cup cricket tournament at R.Premadasa International cricket stadium, starting at 3 pm.

Chandika Hathurusinghe is no stranger to Sri Lanka the former National player and ex Sri Lanka head coach has vast experience while their spin coach Rangana Herath was Sri Lanka’s leading leg spinner. I think both myself and Herath have a good knowledge about the R.Premadasa International cricket stadium but conditions are different due to inclement weather. We have to observe the wicket today and finalize our team said Bangladesh head coach Chandika.

I think in the first game at Pallekele Bangladesh players did not play well but we want to fight back in today’s game. We saw Matheesha Pathirana the slinger action paceman come up with a good performance in the first Bangladesh match taking four wickets. He has a good future with a lot of potential and difficult to face him said Hathurusingha.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan head coach Chris Silverwood said we have to adjust to conditions after playing at Pallekele and Lahore .Our players are confident after winning the first two matches. Our skipper Dasun Shanaka had a tough time but he is working hard to regain his form. In this competition, we saw good cricket and Bangladesh also will come back hard and we have to face whatever challenges. We won by two runs against Afghanistan at Lahore after fighting back said Silverwood.

Sri Lanka most likely will play unchanged team with the same batting order. Two spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage have to put up a good show as the wicket will suit the spinners while Bangladesh also have good spinners. Kusal Mendis who made 92 after poor form at previous games is a plus point for Sri Lanka while experienced Dimuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka have big roles to play. Two experienced players Skipper Sakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqar Rahim are the vital wickets for Sri Lanka and they have to make plans to get these two early to put up a good challenge.

Meanwhile today Sri Lanka and Bangladesh game could be interrupted by rain. However no reserve day for this game but organizers already decided to give a reserve day on Monday (11) for tomorrow’s key game between Pakistan and India. The first-round game between two sides India and Pakistan was washed out at Pallekele spectators get an extra chance on reserve day. The weather forecast already said Sunday’s match can be spoiled by rain and they have decided to give Monday as a reserve day.

Two teams for today game

Bangladesh (probable): 1 Mohammad Naim, 2 Litton Das, 3 Afif Hossain, 4 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 5 Towhid Hridoy, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Shamim Hossain, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Hasan Mahmu

Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kusal Mendis (wk), 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Dhananjaya de Silva, 7 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 8 Dunith Wellalage, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Kasun Rajitha, 11 Matheesha Pathirana

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