SHARJAH, Aug 29: Besides eyeing a much improved show with the bat, Sri Lanka have resorted to playing mind games ahead of their crucial tie against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup here on Tuesday.
Sri Lankan batters were blown away by Afghanistan pacers in the opening game and will be looking to get their act together after a heavy loss.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, will be playing their tournament opener. The Shakib Al Hasan-led side will be aiming to improve their recent record in the shortest format, having won just two games out of 13 since the World Cup last year.
Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka is hoping that the Bangladesh bowling attack will not pose the same threat as his team had faced from the Afghans.
“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. (PTI)
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