Mashrafe urges Mustafizur to shine against Sri Lanka in Dambulla

Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza believes Bangladesh’s key paceman Mustafizur Rahman can exploit the Dambulla wicket to his advantage against Sri Lanka.

Sports Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 24 March 2017, 03:26 PM
Updated : 24 March 2017, 03:26 PM

Mashrafe and coach Chandika Hathurusingha Rangiri at first had a look at the track of Dambulla International Stadium on Friday.

Batting coach Thilan Samaraweera had gone there ahead of them. The trio then had a long conversation in the middle.

Left-arm seamer Mustafizur, too, was keen to take a look at it himself and went out.

Mashrafe, who was then heading back for the press conference, told him, “Mustafizur, this is your wicket. You’re gonna blow it away.”

Mustafizur has been a key figure in Bangladesh’s limited-overs success since 2015. After he burst onto the scene, youngsters like opener Soumya Sarkar, offspinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz, seamer Taskin Ahmed have added edge to the side.

Bangladesh are gearing up to play Saturday’s game, the first match of a three-ODI series, after their memorable success in the contest at Colombo in Test whites. The Test series was drawn 1-1.

The Tigers’ are undoubtedly buoyant at the moment while Wednesday’s defeat in a warm-up game by 2 runs, chasing 355, is more likely to boost their confidence rather than wilt their poise.

Mashrafe and his men will draw inspiration from their limited-overs success at home in recent years, against India, Pakistan and South Africa in 2015 before they beat England in an ODI last year.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, may be a place ahead of Bangladesh in the one-day rankings but they have lose series against England, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan and New Zealand since 2015. Their victories have come against the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland.

The match is set for a 3pm start [BdST]. Bangladesh will need to select from a pool of 17 players in their first two ODIs.