Dubai, Aug 29: The Asia Cup has gotten off to a cracking start. While official hosts Sri Lanka fell to a crushing loss to Afghanistan, the India-Pakistan match was a thrilling encounter.
In the fifth group match of the Asia Cup, Dasun Shanaka-led Sri Lanka will look to make amends when they take on Bangladesh at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday. In their crucial Asia Cup fixture, is looking to not only put up a better show with the bat, but have also resorted to playing mind games for their tie against Bangladesh.
In the Asia Cup opener, Afghan pacers blew away the Lankan batters and then comfortably chased down the target to hand the favourites an eight-wicket loss. On the other hand, Shakib al Hasan-led Bangladesh will be playing their campaign opener.
"Afghanistan has a world-class bowling attack. We know Fizz (Mustafizur Rahman) is a good bowler. Shakib is a world-class bowler. But apart from them, there is no world-class bowler in the side. So if we compare with Afghanistan, Bangladesh is an easier opponent," Shanaka said after the heavy defeat.
Afghanistan pacers Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq had broken the backbone of Sri Lanka batting. Shanka expects his batters to be prepared for the Bangladesh challenge. "We have to ask our batters whether they were prepared. We know that Farooqi swings the ball both ways. Naveen-ul-Haq also swings it most of the time. It's not like in our conditions; these bowlers are a bit skiddier. We have to ask that question of whether we were ready for them," said Shanaka.
Speaking ahead of the game, Bangladesh all-rounder Mehedy Hasan said his team would like to respond to Shanaka's claim on the field. "I don't want to make a comment that this team is good and this team is bad. I think good and bad are proved in the field. A good team can lose if they play badly on that specific day and similarly a bad team can win if they play a good game of cricket.
''We will meet in the field and at that end of the day the good team will win the match and what I feel is that we have to prove it in the field because if we play well certainly everyone will know who is a good team and who is a bad team so instead of predicting before I think it is important to play well on the field,'' said Hasan.
Match Details:
Match no. 5: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh
Match Starts: 7:30pm IST
Toss: 7:00pm IST
Live on: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming on: Disney+Hotstar
Source: PTI