Both the matches will be played at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday and Thursday respectively. The Lankans have a horrible record at the venue, losing 10 of their 11 T20Is. And on the eve of the first game, Bangladesh team manager Khaled Mahmud informed that the players are high on morale at the moment and expressed confidence of achieving good results.
“It was a great opportunity for us to win the ODI series 2-0, but maybe we were outplayed, Sri Lanka played better cricket than us. But definitely, with the T20Is to come, that’s where our focus is now. Maybe we are not a top team in T20s, but I think we also have some great players who can help us win in this format,” Mahmud told the media at Hotel Taj Samudra in Colombo.
“We have Shakib [al Hasan], whose T20 experience is quite substantial. Mustafizur [Rahman] is part of the team and he has played IPL (T20). Even so, I think it will be very hard competition because Sri Lanka are also a good team in this format. So I hope for good competition in the two T20Is we play. We will try to do our best.
“The team’s morale is very high; I don’t think that because we lost (on Saturday), we lost everything. We are a good side, (Saturday) maybe we couldn’t play our best cricket. The most important thing is to come back strongly,” he said.
Bangladesh have added two players - off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz and all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin - to their T20I squad. All-rounder Shuvagata Hom and pacer Rubel Hossain has returned home and Saifuddin arrived to Colombo on Sunday.
“Saifuddin is very young. And in the future maybe we will have a need for a seaming-allrounder. We have big series coming up – the (2017) Champions Trophy and in 2019 we have the (50-over) World Cup and the tour of New Zealand. So all things considered, I think we needed a player in that position,” said Mahmud.
“I think he is matured enough and will be able to play good cricket at this level. Whether he will play or not is up to the coach and captain, but I think staying with the team, the environment is very necessary for young players. For example, Miraz today is playing superbly. It is also important to get them familiar with the team environment and training,” he added.
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