Sri Lanka will face a bruised Bangladeshi outfit in the 1st Test of the Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka Test series on the 31st of January in Chittagong.
Sri Lanka last faced Bangladesh last March, at which point the Tigers had not registered a win against Sri Lanka in 16 previous attempts. The 2 Test match series in Sri Lanka changed perceptions as Bangladesh managed a historic win on a historic occasion, claiming a 4-wicket win, in their 100th Test; the series was drawn 1-1.
Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka Test Series 2018 – Let’s talk Numbers
After a victorious tri nation series, the Lions, revived will be..
2017 was a poor year for Sri Lanka as the Lions went on to lose 7 of the 13 Tests they played, winning just 1 series (excluding the 1 off Test against Zimbabwe). However, it is that series win, away against Pakistan, along with the improved showing against India in India last December that will give the team confidence going into this 2-match series.
Bangladesh enjoyed a successful year in Test cricket in 2017 when they registered maiden wins against Sri Lanka (away) and Australia (home) to reiterate that they are no longer a pushover in the cricketing arena.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka will be without Angelo Mathews but with the performance of Dhananjaya De Silva and Roshen Silva during the last Test of the year, against India in Delhi, Sri Lanka will go in with an in-form batting line-up.
With the injury to Mathews, Sri Lanka will have little choice but to go with the other 7 batsmen on tour, with Danushka Gunathilake slotting in to the top of the order alongside Dimuth Karunaratne, replacing Sadeera Samarawickrama, who is not in the squad for this series. Gunathilake has shown good form in the ODIs and will be itching to establish himself as the 1st choice opener to partner Karunaratne.
It will be interesting to see who slots into the no.4 position left vacated by Mathews with Dhananjaya De Silva and Dinesh Chandimal being the most viable options.
Sri Lanka left Rangana Herath out of their last Test (vs India in Delhi) but given his record against the Bangladeshi batsmen, the veteran is likely to make his way into the playing XI to partner Dilruwan Perera in the spin bowling department.
Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Gamage and Lahiru Kumara will battle it out for the 2nd seamer’s spot with Kumara most likely to share the new ball with newly appointed vice-captain of the team Suranga Lakmal.
Gunathilake and De Silva will also have a role to play with the ball as the Chittagong pitch is likely to get slower as the game goes on.
Probable XI: Dimuth Karunaratne, Danushka Gunathilake, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya De Silva, Dinesh Chandimal ©, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Dilruwan Perera, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh were dealt a huge blow on Saturday when they lost Shakib Al Hasan to injury as the all-rounder suffered a dislocation of his little finger on his bowling hand. Shakib had also been handed the Test Captaincy in December but will miss his 1st Test back as skipper. Mahmudullah Riyad has been handed the responsibility of captaining the team in the absence of Shakib.
35-year-old Abdur Razzak, who recently claimed his 500th first class wicket, has replaced Shakib in the squad but Shakib’s batting will surely be missed by the hosts.
Uncapped 17-year-old allrounder Naeem Hasan has also been named in the Bangladesh squad while Soumya Sarkar, Subashis Roy and Shafiul Islam have been excluded from the team that toured South Africa late last year.
With Shakib unavailable, the onus will fall on experienced heads Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah Riyad, all who showed form in the concluded ODI tri-series, to perform with the bat.
Probable XI: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad ©, Mosaddek Hossain, Liton Das (wk), Mehidy Hasan, Abdur Razzak, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain
Final Say
Recent form gives Sri Lanka a slight edge going into the series, however they would do well not to underestimate the Tigers, particularly at home.
For Sri Lanka it will be a case of reestablishing the dominance they have enjoyed over Bangladesh across the last decade and get 2018 off to a good start while Bangladesh will want to build on their exceptional performances over the last year.
The first Test of the two-Test series will be played from January 31 to February 4 in Chittagong. The series will be followed by two Twenty20 Internationals.
