Rain Threat Looms as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh Clash in Colombo Stadium
Sri Lanka have won both their matches. It's easy to be misled by this statement until you take into account that they struggled to chase down a paltry total of 165 against Bangladesh, only managing to win it by five wickets. In the next game, they nearly allowed Afghanistan to get away with an improbable heist, only to deny them by 2 runs in the end - partially down to lack of information for the Afghanistan team.
With Afghanistan almost gunning down 292 in 37.1 overs, Sri Lanka's bowling is a concern, with only two bowlers going at less than 7 runs an over in the game against Afghanistan. The solidity of the top order was called into question in the chase against Bangladesh, but the batting, in general, has got the job done as a unit.
Bangladesh has had serious concerns regarding their batting, particularly outside of the experienced pair of Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib al Hasan. Nazmul Shanto, who scored a hundred and an 89, was ruled out of the tournament due to a hamstring niggle, which has seriously hurt Bangladesh's batting.
The bowling has shown a lot more potency and heart, but at this stage, a complete performance is the call of the hour, with consistency.
When: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh, Super 4, Match 2, 3:00 PM local time/IST
Where: R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
What to expect: If we ignore the 80% chance of showers in Colombo, the track is typically sluggish to start with before it flattens out and assists batsmen but offers ample assistance to spinners too. However, with the rain coming into play, and a new venue that will host the next six matches, we might well see a slightly more unusual Colombo track, made to hold up for the last six games of the tournament.
Sri Lanka
Despite the two close encounters in the tournament, Sri Lanka haven't lost a match and are likely to continue with the same XI in Colombo unless forced by injury.
Probable XI: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis(w), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka(c), Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Matheesha Pathirana
Bangladesh
Despite the debacle against Pakistan in the Super 4s, Bangladesh is likely to back their XI. Mustafizur potentially returning after sitting out due to a knee niggle may be the only change in the Playing XI.
Probable XI: Mohammad Naim, Mehidy Hasan, Litton Das, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Shakib Al Hasan(c), Shamim Hossain, Afif Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud
