Bangladesh aim to play all-round cricket against injury-hit Sri Lanka
Chandika Hathurusingha and Shakib al Hasan during practice, BCB
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Bangladesh are determined to hunt down injury-hit Sri Lanka, who is one of the hosts of the hybrid model Asia Cup tomorrow (Thursday) at Pallekele Cricket Stadium in Kandy.
However, Bangladesh have a setback as Litton Das has been ruled out of the tournament and Anamul Haque Bijoy will be replacing him in the squad.
The Tigers reached the final of the Asia Cup three times but never could lift the trophy but they want to break that jinx in this edition with captain Shakib al Hasan focusing on to winning start to get momentum for the whole tournament.
The recent Bangladesh versus Sri Lanka encounter featured some tense moments, with the Nidahas Trophy event still fresh in the minds of the two teams' players.
The encounter between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka turned out to be tumultuous, with both teams' players engaging in verbal spats multiple times.
Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka in this match to advance to the final, however, the result appeared to be difficult for the Lankans to accept.
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Things got complicated when Bangladesh players brought out ‘Nagin Dance’ and had a wild celebration in the face of Chandika Hathurusingha, who was Sri Lanka's coach back then.
As things came to the fore, captain Shakib and Hathurusingha, who is now Bangladesh's coach brushed aside the bitter experience in Sri Lanka five years ago and now looking forward to a new show.
Shakib shrugged off talks about a rivalry between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka when it came to the Asia Cup in the pre-match conference on Wednesday.
"I don't think it's a rivalry but we play good cricket when these two countries are playing. It's good for the crowd and the broadcaster to be able to show a good game of cricket. We would like to win, of course. We want to play good cricket but having said that, playing Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka won't be easy," Shakib told the reporters.
Shakib said that to get the appropriate result he is looking for an all-round team performance in the opening match.
“Actually I don't want to win depending on one department. I think if we play well in every department be it pace bowling attack, be it spinner, be it batsman, be it fielder - if we play well in these four areas then we will have a good chance of winning. And that's what we will try to do, play all-round cricket. It is not that only the pace bowlers will win us or only the batsmen will win it. We want to win by playing better than them in all aspects,” Shakib said.
Day by day, Bangladesh established them as a mammoth of the ODI format, for that they had the upper hand over the Lankans.
Wanindu Hasaranga, the highest run-getter and wicket-taker in the just finished Lankan Premier League (LPL), ruled out due to injury and Sri Lanka would be without his services.
Apart from Hasanranga, they will be missing some crucial players due to injury, which is why, despite playing at home, they are not considered favorites.
Overall in Asia Cup, the two teams met 15 times with Sri Lanka winning 12 of them. But in the last five Asia Cup matches, Bangladesh won three, giving a testament how fast they closed the gap against Sri Lanka, who once was invincible against them.
