Colombo, Sri Lanka will look to give a fitting farewell to Lasith Malinga, who plays his last one-day international at Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium on Friday. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, fresh from a mixed campaign at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019, are aiming for a winning start to the three-match ODI series.
Bangladesh appear very different to the side that played the World Cup: all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan (out for personal reasons) and regular skipper Mashrafe Mortaza (injury) are the most notable absentees. A lot will rely on Tamim Iqbal, the stand-in skipper, as Bangladesh eye their first ever series win on Sri Lankan soil.
As for Sri Lanka, they’ll look to give a perfect farewell to Malinga, one of their most loved cricketers, in his final ODI appearance. The last ODI between these two sides, the round-robin fixture at the World Cup, was washed out. In the opening game of the Asia Cup 2018 in UAE, Mushfiqur Rahim’s 144 had powered Bangladesh to an emphatic 137-run win over Sri Lanka.
Dimuth Karunaratne, Sri Lanka captain said, “If you take the World Cup, we did fairly well in patches. We know we need to find a wicket-taking bowler because Lasith Malinga is not available after this series. We need to find the bowlers who can take wickets in the middle and the early overs. I need some good youngsters, we need to groom some youngsters for the next World Cup.”
Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh captain said, “I thought we had a pretty decent World Cup. There were a few games that we should have won. We, the cricketers also felt that we could have done more. I think that whoever plays the first one-day match they need to cash in on the opportunity.”