Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka 1st Test Preview: Home run versus historic record

Bangladesh have home record on their side while recent form favours Sri Lanka.

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Mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh v Australia
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Bangladesh. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

The Tri-series involving Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe was going pretty much in the home team’s favour until of course the penultimate match where they lost by a huge 100-run margin and never quite regained the lost touch. Sri Lanka who were at one point in a do-or-die situation to even qualify for the final went on to lift the trophy.

The two teams now meet in a two-match Test series that gets underway at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. While Sri Lanka is the 6th ranked team Bangladesh is placed at No. 9 in the ICC Test rankings. The last time these two teams met was the latter’s landmark 100th Test and they beat the Lankans in their backyard to level the series 1-1.

Over the years, these two Asian teams have met each other 18 times in the Test arena and Sri Lanka have taken the honours on 15 occasions while Bangladesh won just one and a couple of other matches ended in draws. How things pan out this time around will depend on the Shakib Al Hasan less Bangladeshi unit as the hosts have of late enjoyed quite a run at home and defeated teams like England and Australia in a Test each.

Pitch report:

The Chittagong wicket has traditionally been the one for the batters, it tends to assist the pacers just early in the game and later if they manage to exploit reverse swing. Usually, the contest is between the batsmen and the spinners and it will be interesting to see how the slower bowlers on both side fair.

Average scores at the venue in the 1st inning is – 365, the 2nd inning is 338, it drops considerably in the third inning to 236 and that in the final inning is 210.

Playing Combination:

Bangladesh

Bangladesh will be without their skipper Shakib in this series as he picked up a finger injury during the Tri-series. The BCB thus decided to call up veteran spinner Abdur Razzak who last played a Test against Windies back in 2014. They also have left-arm spinner Sunzumul Islam and leg-spinner Tanbir Hayder as a part of the team.

Imrul Kayes and Tamim Iqbal will take up the opening responsibilities while Mominul and Mushfiqur along with stand-in skipper Mahmudullah form the middle order. The bowling department will comprise the likes of Taijul Islam, Mehidy Hasan and Razzak as the three spinners who will complement the pace bowling duo of Rubel Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman.

Probably XI: Liton Das (wk), Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah (C), Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Taijul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Abdur Razzak

Sri Lanka

Dinesh Chandimal led Sri Lanka will be upbeat following their Tri-series victory. Their last Test series also yielded victory on the tour of UAE, as they beat the Pakistani team 2-0. They will also go into the series without their ODI skipper Angelo Mathews who has been away more than on the field. For the Lankans it will be important that their batting comes good, the bowlers have more often than not done the job.

The team will have a decision to make between Dhananjaya de Silva and Roshen Silva to partner Dimuth Karunaratne while the rest of the batting will more or less revolve around skipper Chandimal. For Sri Lanka to score big he has to come good. Their bowling mainstay is the veteran Rangana Herath who has been exceeding expectations and irrespective of age continues to be the most valuable player in the bowling attack.

Probably XI: Dimuth Karunaratne, Dilruwan Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva/Roshen Silva, Dinesh Chandimal (C), Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Gamage, Kusal Mendis, Dushmantha Chameera, Danushka Gunathilaka

StatAttack

2 – Rangana Herath need two more wickets to complete 500 wickets in International cricket.

4 – Suranga Lakmal need 4 more wickets to become the 7th Sri Lankan to take 100 Test wickets

69 – Mahmudullah need 69 runs to become the 6th Bangladesh player to score 2000 Test runs

Match Timings

January 31-February 04 | 09:30 AM local time

Broadcast Details

TV:

Bangladesh – Gazi TV (GTV)

Sri Lanka – SLRC

Live Streaming: Hotstar, Willow TV Online

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