A 16-member Bangladesh team, without captain Shakib Al Hasan, will leave for Sri Lanka today (Sunday) at 1 pm to participate in the Nidahas Trophy Tri-nation T20I Tournament beginning on Tuesday (March 6) at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo hoping to play consistent cricket.
Host Sri Lanka will play India in the opening match on Tuesday at 19:30pm at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, while Bangladesh will start their campaign taking on the hosts on Thursday (March 8) at the same time and venue.
Bangladesh Twenty20 captain Shakib has been ruled out of the Nidahas Trophy tri-nation T20I at the last moment as he is still nursing an injury to his left hand sustained in the final match of the tri-nation ODI home against Sri Lanka in January this year.
Shakib has been replaced in the squad by batsman Litton Das.
In absence of Shakib, all-rounder Mahmudullah Riyad, who captained the Tigers in the Test and T20 home series against Sri Lanka last month, will lead the Bangladesh team again in the Tri-nation tournament.
Bangladesh stand-in-captain Mahmudullah, opening batsman Tamim Iqbal, pacer Mustafizur Rahman and batsman Sabbir Rahman, now in Dubai to play in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), will join the team in Colombo.
In his pre-departure press conference in Dhaka on Saturday, The Tigers Interim coach Courtney Walsh said he hoped to have the full support of all the players and the BCB bosses and want to play final playing good game consistently match by match.
“I am excited to be in that position. I am sure I will get the full support of the BCB, president, directors, senior players and even the junior players. Once everybody comes to the table and we work together, it will be good to start planning how we go from here,” the West Indian said.
Walsh has said his message to the Bangladesh players would be to let go of any added pressure. “I will tell them to go out there and express themselves and enjoy the game,” he said. “They have to execute the game plan as best as they can. It is no point going into a game with added pressure. We have to relax and enjoy what we are doing, with purpose. I want them to feel proud playing for Bangladesh.”
Walsh also said he has faith in the pace bowlers to come good in the T20 tournament, especially after taking them through a special camp last week. Fourteen pace bowlers, including those who were later picked in the 16-man squad for the Nidahas Trophy, worked under Walsh in between domestic one-day matches.
“I am hopeful that the execution on match day will be good,” he said. “The camp was focused on them. Now they have to go and execute it in the middle. We will be depending on Rubel , Mustafiz and Taskin , who have been recalled, along with Rony [Abu Hider] and Rahi [Abu Jayed].”
The tri-nation tournament is being held to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of Sri Lanka’s independence.
