Friday, 22 March 2013

Bangladesh look to build

        A consistently confident Bangladesh team is still uncommon, but in one-dayers they are a hungry young side on the hunt to topple a higher-ranked team. They had success in that regard last year and this three-ODI series, their first of 2013, will be a way to build on that confidence.For the hosts, Angelo Mathews leads a relatively young side, but for the first match at least Sri Lanka are likely to pick their best XI, leaving the experiments for after they have a lead. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara are the pillars of the batting line-up, but Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne and Kithuruwan Vithanage will be exciting to watch.Bangladesh were Asia Cup runners-up in April last year and then beat West Indies in December. They hardly played one-day cricket in between but it is a format they are comfortable with, more than Tests or Twenty20. Their captain Mushfiqur Rahim has been the team's top-scorer in the last 12 months and, alongside his deputy Mahmudullah, has to shoulder the batting responsibility. Tamim Iqbal, returning from injury, wasn't in good form against West Indies and needs to make a good start to this series.In the bowling department, Bangladesh will miss two of their most influential players: Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza. In their absence Abdur Razzak will have to lead an inexperienced attack. Bangladesh are also without Nazmul Hossain, who was ruled out of the series after suffering a knee injury while training in Colombo on Wednesday.

No comments:

Post a Comment