Bangladesh bank on aggression in final ODI against Sri Lanka

With defeat in the ODI series against Sri Lanka out of the equation, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza wants to play aggressive cricket to get success in the last game in Colombo.

Bangladesh went ahead 1-0 in the three-match series winning the opener in Dambulla before the second ODI was abandoned due to rain.

Bangladesh can seal their maiden series win over the islanders by winning the last game at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo on Tuesday. If the tourists do, they will receive two valuable points in the ODI ranking table.

Mashrafe wants his team to keep playing the way they did to achieve success.

“You can’t win a game of cricket by being defensive. I think being relaxed is very important, and thankfully the team has won two matches on the trot,” Mashrafe said.

“It is important to play in the planned way we did. I will always want that we play the aggressive game. In sports body language also counts.”

In the washout at Dambulla, Sri Lanka would have felt hard done after posting 311. No team had ever successfully hunt down a target 300-plus target in their backyard, a lesson they learned the hard way last Friday, chasing Bangladesh’s 324 in the opening ODI.

But on Tuesday, Kusal Mendis’ century was followed by Bangladesh taking six wickets in the last five overs with pacer Taskin Ahmed becoming the fifth bowler to claim a hat-trick for the team. Finishing on a high note left the contest evenly poised before rain played spoilsport.

Mashrafe was confident Bangladesh could have hunted down that total, but he urged his bowlers to be more disciplined in the third one-dayer.

"If you see the last match, they scored 300," Mashrafe said. "The wicket was very good, but maybe we have to try to reduce 20-25 runs from that. Where they can score 300, we have to keep it to 280. If we can do something like that the task will become easier for us."

"If you look at the history at the SSC, then it says that 270-290 is the average score, which means that it can also go over 300. So I think we have to be mentally prepared for that."

The first two matches were both day-nighters, but the game at SSC, which is set to host an ODI after six years, will be a day match. So, Mashrafe is not too worried about the toss.

Sri Lanka are looking to end their five-match ODI losing streak as the Tigers gear up for another landmark win.