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Bangladesh will take on Sri Lanka in the second and final Test of the series, starting today at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo, with a ‘lot of confidence’ after securing a gritty draw in Galle.

The match is scheduled to start at 10:30 am Bangladesh Standard Time, and T Sports and Nagarik TV will broadcast it live. 

After drawing the first Test on a flat wicket in Galle, Bangladesh now face a selection headache over their bowling attack as the number two ICC ranked all-rounder, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who missed the first game, is set to return after recovering from illness.

Nayeem Hasan, who played in place of Mehidy, took a five-wicket haul in the first innings in Galle and gave Bangladesh a rare chance against the hosts. 

To leave the off spinner out in the next game would be a tough challenge for the team management.

 ‘That’s the hard part. Nayeem had a wonderful game in Galle, so leaving him out would be tough,’ said Simmons prior to the second Test. ‘But everyone understands that selection depends on conditions and what’s best for the team. We always try to ensure everyone’s on the same page when these decisions are made.’

‘As for Mehidy, he’s ranked No. 2 in the world right now. So yes, he definitely adds value to the team with both bat and ball. But we can’t just rely on him; everyone has to do their job. He’ll do his part, but the rest of the team needs to step up too,’ added Simmons. 

If both Nayeem and Mehidy are included in the eleven, Bangladesh might have to exclude a specialist batter or a pacer. 

But Simmons was tight-lipped when he was asked about the combination. 

‘That decision will be made later today, depending on what we see on the pitch,’ he said. ‘We’ve just arrived at the ground, so we need to assess the conditions first, before deciding on team balance—whether we go with three seamers or three spinners.’

However, Simmons said that they gained a lot of confidence from Galle despite having to defend their approach in the Test again. 

‘There’s a lot of confidence from the way we played. Often, we’re a bit slow to start in the first Test of a series, but this time, we hit the ground running. That gives us a lot of belief going into the second Test,’ he said. 

The wicket in SSC is historically batting-friendly, but the last drawn match came 11 years ago. 

‘Yeah, it looks like a good wicket so far. I haven’t seen it today, but from what we saw yesterday, it looked decent,’ said Simmons. 

‘Tomorrow, we’ll come in and look to play as hard as we did in Galle. There are a few little things we want to improve on, and it’s important that we either maintain or elevate the level we showed in the first Test.’

‘The morale has been excellent from the start. The guys did their work in Dhaka so that we could hit the ground running here. The draw in Galle was a solid result, and we’ve recovered well in the three days since. Spirits are high,’ he added.