Bangladesh ready to take on youth based Sri Lanka
BCB
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Host Bangladesh to take on young Sri Lanka in the first match of the three-ODI series at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Sunday, they will be looking to break their recent run of defeats across formats.
With the 30 points on offer, the home team will also look to improve their position in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League table, and their task could be made easier by the fact that they are facing a comparatively youth-based Sri Lankan team. Bangladesh are currently at sixth position in the table with three wins in six games.
Sri Lanka are without their senior men in the format, particularly Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews. However, Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo believes that the absence of the heavyweights in the opponent team would not make a significant difference, especially in the batting department.
“Sri Lanka have left out one or two big players – there’s no Chandimal and Mathews. We have a more experienced batting line-up than they do. We know that they have some quality players in Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis. I think it is pretty evenly matched. They will be trying to play an aggressive brand of cricket with a young team. Our top-order got good batting time and preparation this week. I am really looking forward to how the two batting line-ups match up in the next week,” said Domingo in the pre-match virtual press conference Saturday.
With the bat, Bangladesh will depend heavily on their senior campaigners, including captain Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, and the now-available Shakib al Hasan. Shakib-Tamim are eyeing for some personal milestones.
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Opener Tamim can become the first player to score 14,000 international runs across all format for Bangladesh as he is short of only two runs, While Shakib needs to score 67 runs to reach 12,000 runs milestone after Tamim and Mushfiq. Shakib also aims to overtake veteran Mashrafe Mortaza’s 269 wickets record in ODI for Bangladesh as he needs only three more wickets to become the most Wicket taker for the Tigers.
Shakib's return to the troop, after missing the New Zealand and Sri Lanka tours for different reasons, solves the side's dilemma of whether to go for a batsman or a bowler.
The focus will undoubtedly be on the world's best all-rounder, who is set to bat at No 3, a slot that Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar both tried unsuccessfully.
Domingo also thinking about the future, when senior players won’t be available for the team, he aims to prepare young players for the upcoming days.
“Winning is always important. But at the same time we have to think about the future. Sometimes we have to pay more attention to the future than the past-present. This is an important series. There are important points to take here. In fact, there is a balance. As important as victory is now, so is team development. After 2 years, Shakib, Tamim, Riyadh Mushfiqs will not be there. You just have make sure that, when the time comes young players can perform responsibly then. We have to handle it with caution” he added.
