Inconsistent Sri Lanka face wounded Bangladesh (Preview)

After two consecutive defeats, Bangladesh will look to return to winning ways when they face a depleted Sri Lanka in their fourth World Cup game at the Bristol Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

The Bangla Tigers, after making a perfect start to their World Cup campaign against South Africa, faced back to back defeats against New Zealand and England and are low on confidence.

Apart from the first game against the Proteas, the Bangladesh batting has not been consistent and it has only been all-rounder Shakib al Hasan who has been able to perform. None of their other batters have been able to maintain consistency and have failed to cope with the scoreboard pressure. Their openers, Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal, have not been able to provide the starts that the Bangladeshi fans would be hoping for, something which Mashrafe Mortaza will desperately want.

However, Bangladesh's major concern is their bowling which was taken for plenty by tournament favourites England in their previous encounter. They conceded a total in excess of 380 and were given a hard time on the field.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will be looking for two crucial points after their last encounter was washed out against Pakistan. The Dimuth Karunaratne-led side started their tournament campaign on the worst possible note, conceding a 10-wicket defeat to New Zealand. However, it was their bowling which rescued them against Afghanistan in a rain-curtailed match which they just managed to win.

Batting has been one of the issues which Sri Lanka has been coping with in the initial phase of the ongoing tournament. They have suffered batting collapses and have not been able to play their full quota of 50 overs in all the completed matches.

In bowling, they will miss the services of Nuwan Pradeep who won them the match against Afghanistan. However, with the likes of Lasith Malinga, their bowling still finds an edge over Bangladesh.

Squads:

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Abu Jayed, Liton Das, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Mithun, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mosaddek Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Tamim Iqbal.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c),Dhananjaya de Silva, Nuwan Pradeep, Avishka Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay.

--IANS

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