Bangladesh will have to put behind them their bumpy ride in the group stage as they take on Sri Lanka in the opening Super Four fixture of the Asia Cup at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday.听
The match is scheduled to begin at 8:30pm Bangladesh Standard Time. T Sports and Nagorik TV will telecast it live, while fans can also watch the game on Toffee and Tapmad online.听
Bangladesh qualified for the Super Four after Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan by six wickets in the last match of Group B on Thursday.听
The Liton Das-led team beat Hong Kong and Afghanistan while losing to Sri Lanka on their way to the Super Four.听
However, their win against Hong Kong wasn鈥檛 convincing enough, as they took a cautious approach while chasing, while Sri Lanka and Afghanistan both took their chances to boost their net run rate.听
Although net run rate didn鈥檛 come to bite Bangladesh, as Afghanistan lost one more match than them to miss the Super Four stage.听
Bangladesh entered the Sri Lanka match with a lot of confidence from their recent series win over them.听
However, their batting, particularly in the top order, was utterly disorganised. They managed a moderate score thanks to contributions from Jaker Ali and Shamim Hossain, but it wasn鈥檛 enough.听
Against Afghanistan, Bangladesh got off to a flying start in batting after making as many as four changes in the starting eleven.听
However, Afghan spinners squeezed the runs in the middle to restrict Bangladesh to 154 runs.听
Nasum Ahmed made a dream start to his bowling, but a lack of a frontline fifth bowler hurt Bangladesh badly.听
Shamim and Saif Hassan collectively gave away 55 runs in four overs as Afghanistan threatened to take the game away.听
Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman, with the help of Nasum, took Bangladesh over the line, but the team selection was under a lot of scrutiny.听
Bangladesh played with seven specialist batters, a move that reflected a lack of confidence in their batting ability.听
It鈥檚 most likely that Bangladesh will play a different eleven than that played against Afghanistan. They will have to adapt to a slightly different condition in Dubai, as they played all three of the group matches in Abu Dhabi.听
While the Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi saw an average run rate of 7.79, in Dubai International Stadium it was 6.93.听
However, the teams like Oman, Hong Kong and UAE struggled in Dubai, while India and Sri Lanka scored heavily.听
Bangladesh will play all three matches in Dubai in Super Four; two of those games are scheduled in consecutive days.听
The Tigers will face India on September 24, while their match against Pakistan is on September 25.听
Captain Liton and others expressed their ultimate dream to lift the trophy before leaving the country.听
One thing is certain: they will need much improvement from their performances in the first round if they are to make it to the final.听
听
听听
