Sports Reporter :
Motivated Bangladesh will take on touring Sri Lanka in the 2nd One Day International (ODI) match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the city’s Mirpur today. The match starts at 1.00pm (Bangladesh Standard Time). Private satellite sports channel T Sports and private satellite channel GTV will telecast the match live from the arena.
Hosts Bangladesh registered an easy 33-run victory over touring Sri Lanka in the first ODI at the same venue on Sunday last. Earlier, Bangladesh whitewashed West Indies 3-0 in the three-match ODI series at home recently. Bangladesh bagged 40 points in ICC Cricket World Cup ODI Super League.
If the hosts beat the tourists in the second ODI today, the home side will clinch the ODI series against the islanders remaining one match. Bangladesh will face Sri Lanka in the last ODI at the same venue on May 28.
It is a good news for Bangladesh that dashing opener Tamim Iqbal has kept his consistency. ‘Mr Dependable’ Mushfiqur Rahim and ‘Mr Finisher’ Mahmudullah Riyad shone with the willow in their last match against Sri Lanka.
Off spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz showed a superb performance with the cherry in the Sunday’s match against Sri Lanka. He captured four wickets at the cost of 30 runs. ‘Cutter Master’ Mustafizur Rahman showed a superb performance with the cherry. He claimed three wickets for 34 runs. The left-arm pacer, who played for Rajasthan Royals In Indian Premier League (IPL) performed a consistent performance for his side. But IPL was postponed due to deadly coronavirus outbreak in India.
Mushfiqur Rahim said after the match on Sunday, “I am not like Pollard or Russell to strike them big. I stuck to my strengths, milked the runs and had to keep one end safe.”
“I think we lost 10 games across all formats. Winning is happiness. Boys are really happy. We hope we can put on a better show next time,” said Captain Tamim Iqbal after won the first ODI. On the other hand, Sri Lankan Captain Kusal Perera said after the match, “They (Bangladesh) have a lot of seniors with plenty of experience, our bowlers weren’t so, but restricting them to 257 was a good effort. On our batting, we need to start taking more responsibility.”
