Tigers desperate for turnaround

FT ONLINE

A demoralised Bangladesh cricket team will be hoping to make a turnaround in their second match of tri-series Twenty20 tournament when they face a familiar side Sri Lanka at Colombo today.

The match is scheduled to start at 7:30pm and will be telecast live on Channel 9.
This will be the third meeting of the two sub-continental sides in the shortest format in less than a month after the Tigers recently suffered a 2-0 defeat against the Islanders in the two-match T20I series back at home.

Bangladesh were hoping to start the Nidahas Trophy with a fresh mindset but they saw their bad patch continued in the first match when they were crushed with a six-wicket defeat against tournament favourites India on Friday.

The Tigers failed to showcase any of positive game plans against an under-strength Indian side as they found them struggling from the beginning of the match.

The poor body language of the batsmen was reflected in 57 dot balls that Bangladesh conceded in the game to depriving them of chance to put a competitive score. 

It was hard for the bowlers to defend a mere total like 139-8 and despite the best effort of pace bowing trio Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain and Taskin Ahmed India eased into a six-wicket win with eight balls in hand. 

The defeat against India was their 13th loss in last 14 matches in Twenty20 format which highlighted their struggle in the shortest format of the game once again. 
Sri Lanka on the other hand got off to flying start in the tournament defeating India by five wickets in the first match of the tri-series and will like to continue their domination over the Tigers.

The Islanders gave the Tigers hardly any chance in their two outings last month sealing a comfortable series victory and they continued their impressive run in the tri-series tournament as well.

Sri Lankan top-order batsman Kusal Perera, who missed the last away series against the Tigers, made a solid comeback smashing 66 off 37 balls to make a India’s total ordinary in the run-chase and they would be looking forward to deliver same sort of performance from the southpaw.

Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed on Saturday admitted that they would be under pressure against the in-form Sri Lankan side and insisted that they must play well with bat and ball to overcome the situation. 

‘We’ll be under pressure as we lost in the last two meetings against Sri Lanka,’ Taskin told reporters in Colombo.

‘But if we can score a good total and maintain the consistency in bowling then I believe that there is chance to do well against them,’ he added.