Bangladesh will face Sri Lanka in the 2nd and last T20I of the series under floodlight at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo today (Thursday), eying a victory to level the series.
The match which will be the last T20I appearance of Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza will begin at 7:30pm Bangladesh time.
To ensure a lovely farewell to Mashrafe’s career of around 10 years in the shortest format cricket, the Tigers win in the 7th T20I battle against Sri Lanka would be the best tribute to inspirational Norail Express.
Mashrafe retired from T20I on his own term which came in a sudden announcement at the toss for the first T20I against Sri Lanka in Colombo Tuesday, was really took several months to decide that he admitted after the match.
Upul Tharanga’s men must determine to wrap up series with trophy as they won the first T20I by six wickets to take 1-0 lead.
The Tigers shared both the Test and the rain-hit ODI series trophies playing 1-1 draws against Sri Lanka. Now a win for series draw in T20I, will be a significant moment for the Tigers to end a full tour to a higher-ranked nation on even ground for the first time, since Bangladesh became a Test nation in 2000.
Bangladesh registered the only victory against Sri Lanka in a meeting at home in the Twenty20 format in the Asia Cup 2016. Since September 2007, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka played six T20Is where the letter side secured five victories.
Bangladesh team: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mosaddek Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Sunzamul Islam, Nurul Hasan, Mehedi Hasan and Mohammad Saifuddin.
Sri Lanka team: Upul Tharanga (captain), Dilshan Munaweera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Lasith Malinga, Isuru Udana, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dasun Shanaka, Vikum Sanjaya, Milinda Siriwardana, Asela Gunaratne, Seekkuge Prasanna, Chamara Kapugedara, Thisara Perera, Lakshan Sandakan, Shehan Jayasuriya and Kusal Perera.
