The fourth game of the tri-series will see Bangladesh play Sri Lanka at Dhaka. It will be a very important for the Bangladeshis as a win here can make their chances of qualifying for the finals a less-distant possibility as compared to a Sri Lankan win, who have already, almost gone through to the final stage.

Sri Lanka has been struggling so badly with their injury issues, that another injured player in Mahela Jayawardene has had to be called up to cover them up. Along with Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal and the opener Mahela Udawatte have also been called up to prop up the line-up which is already devoid of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva and Muthumudalige Pushpakumara. Despite the absence of Dilshan in their previous game, Sri Lanka had done well to pile up the runs thanks to Thilan Samaraweera, but Pushpakumara had injured himself during the match, which meant that he would not have been able to bat had the Lankans desired.

With only 11 fit men, it has become difficult for the Lankans to be able to overcome the issues with their team selection.

Samaraweera obviously played the innings of his life against India and will be on a high after that game. He will want to make the best out of the remaining games, knowing very well that a slip-up here will mean that he could be consigned back to the reserves and hence the pressure will be on him to keep delivering. It also remains to be seen whether the Lankans risk Dilshan for this rather low-profile game, especially given that they have almost reached the finals; instead, they could keep him under observation and allow him more time to recover till the start of the final.

From the bowling perspective, the young likes of Suraj Randiv and Suranga Lakmal have been most impressive in the series and in the last couple of games in the ODI series against India have bowled extremely tight lines and lengths. They will test the Bangladeshi batsmen to the hilt, as will the left-arm pace of Chanaka Welegedara, who had a five wicket haul against India.

For Bangladesh, the onus will be on the experienced trio of Tamim Iqbal, Shakib-al-Hasan and the half centurion of the previous game, Mohammad Ashraful. Ashraful played a lone and a matured hand in the previous game against Sri Lanka and will want to repeat the same performance in the next one as well. However, it will be pair of Iqbal and Hasan who will have to do well as batsmen to make a match out of it. Especially if the Bangladeshi spinners find it difficult to grip the ball in the strong dewy conditions later!

Tag :- Bangladesh   Chamara Silva   Mahela Jayawardene   Mohammad Ashraful   Sri Lanka   Suraj Randiv