Usually a tour of Bangladesh would be a tour which will be lightly taken by administrators and players all around, but this time there is a twist.
Bangladesh has been given the chance to host the Asia Cup in February and ICC World T20 in March in their own territory for the 1st time. Due to political unrest, the last few months all around Bangladesh, all eyes will be on this bilateral tour between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka which starts on 27th January, 2013.
If Bangladesh fail to host the Sri Lanka tour it will be curtains for any possibilities of them hosting any world event in their geometric surroundings for decades.
Major Cricket playing countries have been very protective in their approach to approve their participation in ICC World T20 while Sri Lanka have put up both their hands to support their fellow South Asian country to host the upcoming tournaments.
The political violence had earlier prompted the West Indies Under-19 team to abandon their tour after one match earlier last month, and the pull-out has understandably raised concern over security in the country.
Apart from all the security concerns, both teams will look to play competitive cricket as Bangladesh are no longer known as minnows after few extraordinary performances throughout the years. Sri Lanka is a team always known to play positive and spirited cricket but their negative tactics during their 5 wicket loss to Pakistan last week have raised concerns on what has happened to a team once known as the most spirited cricket team around the world specially when Arjuna Ranatunga led a little known Sri Lanka team to World Cup glory in 1996. However after all the criticism back home the visiting side will almost surely resort to some aggressive cricket.
The tour will kick start with the two Test matches which will certainly test the temperament and character of both the teams. Sri Lanka has faced Bangladesh in 14 test matches so far and they have been the winning team in 13 occasions with 1 game ending in a draw last year. Bangladesh has been a very good destination for Sri Lanka in the past, with all the 4 test matches played there between these two teams having been won by Sri Lanka convincingly.
Bangladesh will be hard to beat at home this time around. They have become a very unpredictable and a dangerous side when the format gets shorter. The Sri Lankan Lions have faced Bangladesh on 33 occasions in ODIs and they have got the better of the ‘Tigers’ in 28 games with Bangladesh winning 4 games and one match ended without a result. Ten ODI matches have been played in Bangladesh of which they have won 3 games with 7 games going in favor of the touring Sri Lankan team. There has been no T20 matches been played between these two countries in the land of Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka has named a 15 man test squad filled with experience and youth. Two new faces have been added to the Squad which toured UAE as Kithruwan Vithanage replacing injured Lahiru Thirimanne and mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis taking the place of ODI & T20 specialist Sachithra Senanayake spot after his lackluster Test debut against Pakistan. Hosts Bangladesh has named their best squad for the 1st match with spinners looking to dominate both test matches. Odds are in Sri Lanka’s favor but the possibility of Bangladesh’s 1st test win over Sri Lanka cannot be written off as Bangladesh will not go down without a fight in their own backyard.
Both countries have not named their ODI and T20I squads yet as the much hyped shorter forms of the game will bring more competitiveness and nail biting finishes as it will be the perfect warm up for the Asia Cup and ICC World T20.
Full tour schedule
Mon Jan 27 – Fri Jan 31
09:30 local | 03:30 GMT : 1st Test – Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
Tue Feb 4 – Sat Feb 8
09:30 local | 03:30 GMT : 2nd Test – Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka
Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong
Wed Feb 12
17:00 local | 11:00 GMT : 1st T20 – Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka
Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong
Fri Feb 14
17:00 local | 11:00 GMT : 2nd T20 – Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka
Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong
Mon Feb 17
14:00 local | 08:00 GMT : 1st ODI – Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
Thu Feb 20
14:00 local | 08:00 GMT : 2nd ODI – Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
Sat Feb 22
14:00 local | 08:00 GMT : 3rd ODI – Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
Sri Lanka Test Squad
1. Angelo Mathews (Captain)
2. Dinesh Chandimal (Vice Captain)
3. Dimuth Karunaratne
4. Kaushal Silva
5. Kumar Sangakkara
6. Mahela Jayawardena
7. Prasanna Jayawardena
8. Kithruwan Vithanage
9. Rangana Herath
10. Dilruwan Perera
11. Suranga Lakmal
12. Shaminda Eranga
13. Nuwan Pradeep
14. Vishwa Fernando
15. Ajantha Mendis
Bangladesh Test Squad (1st Test)
1. Mushfiqur Rahim (captain),
2. Tamim Iqbal
3. Marshall Ayub
4.Shakib Al Hasan
5. Nasir Hossain
6. Mominul Haque
7. Shamsur Rahman
8. Mohammad Mahmudullah
9. Imrul Kayes
10. Abdur Razzak
11. Sohag Gazi
12. Robiul Islam
13. Rubel Hossain
14. Al-Amin Hossain.
