DHAKA: It will be a battle between the pace attacks of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as the two teams square off in a crucial round robin league match of the Asia Cup T20 at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in city on Sunday (February 28).
The match assumes significance as the winner will take a giant step towards qualifying for the summit clash of the tournament.
For Tigers, victory is a must as they have already played two matches winning one and losing against India.
Both the teams beat United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their opening games. Sri Lanka did not need much effort even though the margin of their victory was 14 runs while Bangladesh were more convincing in their 51-run win.
But both teams had poor outing as far as their batsmen are concerned. Sri Lanka managed 129 against an inexperienced UAE attack while Bangladesh were no better in their 133-run effort.
It will be a battle of bowlers with Sri Lanka being led by their captain Lasith Malinga, who rocked the opposition with a four-wicket haul.
Mustafizur Rahaman had an off day against India, but against UAE, he showed why he is rated so highly as he was on the verge of a hat-trick once again.
UAE captain Amjad Javed also conceded that it was not easy to read Mustafizur’s slow off-cutters.
So it will be a contest between Malinga’s toe-crushers and Mustafizur’s variations. There will be supporting cast from both sides. Mustafizur will be aided by Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, skipper Mashrafe Mortaza and ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.
Malinga will have support from the experienced Nuwan Kulasekara, left-arm spinner Rangana Herath and young Dushmantha Chameera.
Both Mortaza and Malinga expected that their premier batsmen would come good. Sabbir Rahaman and Mithun Ali performed in one match each while the mercurial Mahmudullah Riyadh came good in their UAE victory.
Sri Lanka only had Dinesh Chandimal scoring a 50 while Tillekaratne Dilshan looked scratchy during his 28-ball 27.
Sri Lanka have Chamara Kapugedara in their ranks and he is considered to be a good T20 player.
The Lankans did not play Thisara Perera in the last match but considering the conditions and his all-round abilities, Malinga might think of dropping a pacer and including Perera in the line-up to bolster the batting.
Source: zeenews
BDST: 1842 HRS, FEB 27, 2016
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