Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will lock horns once again in the shortest format with an aim of securing series result after ending as equals in both the Test and ODI series draws.
The tour has panned out in a highly unlikely manner. Bangladesh, boosted by the rising superstars, has been at their competent best while Sri Lanka has managed to stay on par with them. Both the teams have missed the opportunity of winning any trophies twice and the upcoming bilateral T20I series will be the last opportunity to culminate the tour with one team on the top.
Team composition:
The hosts start as favourites due to a couple of factors. The biggest being the return of Lasith Malinga. He was extremely effective during Sri Lanka’s last T20I series against Australia and is the biggest advantage Sri Lanka possess at the moment. Bangladesh would surely be concerned about playing against him.
Asela Gunaratne, the in-form batsman, was also one of the top performers in Australia and despite being unable to come up with any dominating show in the recent ODI series, he will the man to watch out for in the batting department.
SL have also opted to make a few changes in the squad. Kusal Mendis, the top performer in the ODI series will is rested along with Sachith Pathirana and Dinesh Chandimal.
Injured Angelo Mathews will once again be unavailable. In Mathews’ absence, Upul Tharanga will continue to lead the team in the shortest format as well after recently leading them in ODIs.
Bangladesh has retained almost the same team apart from the inclusion of 20-year-old seam bowling all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin.
If given a chance to make his T20 debut, Saifuddin could replace Mosaddek Hossain; chances, however, seems are less as the visitors wouldn’t fiddle with the settled side in the opening game of the series. Rubel Hossain and Shuvagata Hom have been sent back home.
The departure of the duo won’t be an issue as they weren’t in the scheme of things during the ODI series as well.
Probable XI:
Sri Lanka: Danushka Gunathalika, Upul Tharanga (c), Kusal Perera (wk), Asela Gunaratne, Chamara Kapugedara, Milinda Siriwardana, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Seekkuge Prasanna, Lakshan Sandakan.
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahman (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudulah, Mosaddek Hossain/Mohammad Saifuddin, Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman
Stats:
Mushfiqur Rahim has taken 45 dismissals and needs 5 more to achieve the 50 dismissals milestone. Looks unlikely, but let’s hope he has a good match behind the stumps.
Who said what?
“We’ve got to be consistent in getting those runs as well, and that has to carry over to the T20 format. In Australia, we’ve chased 170-odd as well. Even here, if we can get and chase 180 – scores like that – that would be the best thing,” Sri Lanka captain Upul Tharanga
“When we played the decider against England in Chittagong [last October], we lost despite having a good record there. So these things don’t really matter much,” Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza.