Bangladesh will be looking to get off to a good start in the Asia Cup 2023 when they meet Sri Lanka in their opening Group B encounter of the regional tournament at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy today (Thursday).

The match will start at 3:30 pm and will be telecast live on T Sports.

Bangladesh suffered the first blow before leaving the country when in-form pacer Ebadot Hossain was ruled out of the competition due to a knee injury while they sustained another setback when they lost opener Liton Das due to viral fever only one day before their opening match.

Liton’s absence forced the team management to include wicketkeeper-batsman Anamul Haque Bijoy in their squad for the tournament while uncapped pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib replaced Ebadot in the squad.    However, their opposition, Sri Lanka, are not in a better situation as well taking in terms of the fitness issue as they would be without their top players like Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka and Lahiru Kumara in the tournament as all of them had been suffering from injuries.

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who will begin his new tenure as 50-over captain with this match after Tamim Iqbal quit the job earlier this month, finds similarity between both sides’ current situation and claims that there is an equal chance for both neighbouring nations to win the contest.

The match is important for both teams as after the game, they will travel to Pakistan to face the third team in this group – Afghanistan – to play their respective last group matches. Two teams from this group will qualify for the Super Four stage of the tournament.

Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul