Sports Reporter :
After giving a heroic fight against the islanders, motivated Bangladesh will face Sri Lanka in the second Twenty20 International (T20I) match at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium today. Najmul Hossain Shanto will lead Bangladesh, while Charith Asalanka will lead Sri Lanka. The Tigers lost to Sri Lanka by just three runs in the first T20I match at the same venue on Monday last.
The crucial match will start at 6.00:pm. Private satellite sports channel T Sports and private satellite channel GTV will telecast the match live from the arena. If Sri Lanka win today’s match, the tourists will clinch the T20I series 2-0 with remaining one game. On the other hand, if the Tigers beat Sri Lanka in the second T20I match, their hope will be alive to win the series. The last T20I will be held at the same venue on March 9.
Jaker Ali shone with the willow in the willow for Comilla Victorians in the recently concluded Ispahani Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Cricket. But he was not included initially in the Bangladesh T20I squad. Later, Aliss Al Islam was injured. Thus, Jaker Ali has been included in the Tigers squad. After getting chance to play in the first T20I, Jaker Ali showed a spectacular performance. He hammered a terrific 68 using just 34 deliveries. But he failed to earn victory for Bangladesh.
After the match, Jaker Ali spoke at the press conference on Monday last. The Sylhet-born batter said, ” The recently concluded BPL Cricket helped us to play in this international match. As BPL was a competition of T20 format, we got technical help to play against Sri Lanka. Sylhet International Cricket Stadium is my home ground. So, I have a clear idea about this ground.”
He said, ” I enjoyed to play here. Everything was totally okay. If we won the match we got a better feeling.”
Mahmudullah Riyad got chance for Bangladesh team after hard work and industry. Riyad cracked 54 capitalising just 31 balls.
Bangladesh needed just five runs in the last ball of the 20th over. But Taskin Ahmed failed to do that. Thus, Bangladesh tasted a narrow defeat to Sri Lanka.
Sadeera Samarawickrama said, ” I failed to take a catch of Mahmudullah. Later, Maheesh Theekshana picked up the wicket of Mahudullah. And it was the turning point of the match. Our bowlers bowled well. Specially, Theekshana bowled really well. Dasun Shanaka bowled extremely well in the last over. Thus, the match acted in favour of us.”
Sadeera said, ” We batted well as a team. The wicket was a good batting wicket.
Our batters got a good start. Thus, our batters piled up a massive innings. I think the batting was the X-factor of the match.”
Bangladesh T20I squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (Captain), Litton Das, Anamul Haque Bijoy, Mohammad Naim, Towhid Hridoy, Soumya Sarkar, Mahedi Hasan, Mahmudullah Riyad, Taijul Islam, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan and Jaker Ali.
Sri Lanka T20I squad for first two T20Is: Charith Asalanka (Captain), Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Maheesh Theekshana, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Janith Perera, Dilshan Madushanka, Nuwan Thushara, Matheesha Pathirana, Akila Dananjaya, Binura Fernando, Kamindu Mendis, Avishka Fernando and Jeffrey Vandersay.