Raipur, Mar 9 : Sri Lanka Legends will be keen to continue their fine form when they
meet Bangladesh Legends for their fifth match of the Unacademy Road Safety World
Series at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium on Wednesday evening.
With 12 points in four matches including three wins and a defeat, captain Tillakratne
Dilshan team is second in the points table behind league leaders India Legends, led by
Sachin Tendulkar.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, is in a desperate situation where they need a win to stay
alive in the series. Having already played two matches, captain Khaled Mashud’s team
are yet to open their account.
However, Sri Lanka will go in as favourites in the match, especially after their victories in
the last two games which came against West Indies Legends and South Africa Legends.
In both the matches, Sri Lanka put up a commendable show with both bat and ball.
Against West Indies, Dilshan’s team chased Windies’ 157/4, in 19 overs for a five wicket
win.
The next match versus South Africa was a low scoring affair where they folded out Jonty
Rhodes’s side for 89 in just 18.5 overs. Riding Dilshan’s unbeaten half century Sri Lanka
achieved the target in 13.2 overs for a nine wicket victory.
Bangladesh will have an uphill task to get better of Sri Lanka, especially with the form they
are in.
In the previous two games, Bangladesh has lost to Indian Legends and England Legends.
And both defeats were one-sided.
Bangladesh has been lacking the bite in both departments and will have to play out of their
skin to put up any kind of challenge against in-form Sri Lankans.
For now, the Tigers are in a do-or-die situation as every game is important for them if they
want to make the next stage of the series.
Bangladesh bowlers will have more than a difficult task to bowl against Sri Lankan top-order comprising Dilshan, Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga, which has been in terrific form.
If they get rid of the top three, Bangladesh’s chances of restricting Lanka to low score will
get higher.
However, Bangladesh’s batting will have to do extraordinarily well against a strong Sri
Lankan bowling which includes the likes of Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Herath, Anjantha
Mendis and the captain Dilshan himself.
Teams:
Sri Lanka Legends: Tillaratkne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Dulanjana Wijensinghe, Malinda
Warnapura, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Ajantha Mendis, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan
Kulasekara, Rangana Herath, Thilan Thushara, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Farveez Maharoof,
Russel Arnold, Chamara Kapugedera
Bangladesh Legends: Mohammad Rafique (Captain), Khaled Mahmud, Mohammed Sharif,
Mushfiqur Rahman, A N M Mamun Ur Rashed, Nafees Iqbal, Abdur Razzak, Khaled Mashud,
Hannan Sarker, Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Mehrab Hossain, Aftab Ahmed, Alamgir Kabir. (UNI)