Bangladesh national team, who are depleted with a couple of injury worries and a poor run of form, will look to overcome their woes when they take on Sri Lanka in their opening game of the ongoing edition of the ICC T20 World Cup at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Saturday.
The match will start at 6:30am Bangladesh time, with Nagorik TV televising it live.
Bangladesh are undergoing a lean patch in the shortest version of the game since their five-match series against Zimbabwe at home.
Although they won the five-match series 4-1, their loss in the last game raised some eyebrows about their preparations for the global event.
That concern soared when they suffered a 2-1 series loss to USA in Dallas, and following a 60-run defeat to India in their second warm-up match in New York on June 1, the problems seemed to be never-ending.
Besides their performance issues, the Tigers have two injury issues in Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam. The latter has already been ruled out of the tie with an injury in his left hand, while the former is likely to play as he has recovered well from the rib injury he suffered during the Zimbabwe series.
Bangladesh national team chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain, though, feels that the Tigers are ready to face the Lankans and the only way to release the pressure mounting on them is through performing.
鈥楲ook, it is going to be a new game. To me, every game is a new challenge. When you fail to pick up a victory against a side that is even less strengthened than Sri Lanka, then it is truly a big challenge,鈥� he said at the Grand Prairie Stadium complex on Wednesday.
鈥楴ot only challenging, the game is going to be an affair of pressure for them as well. However, the only way to release the pressure is through performance. If they can perform well in the match, I think it will be easier for them to overcome the pressure.鈥�
Sri Lanka are also under pressure after they suffered a six-wicket defeat to South Africa in their opening game in New York on Tuesday, where they were bowled out for a meagre 77.
Earlier, they also lost to Netherlands by 20 runs in their warm-up match.
Thus, Gazi Ashraf feels that the defeats have put Sri Lanka in a tricky position ahead of the tie and Bangladesh should be focusing on performing their best in the game.
鈥楾he defeats may have impacted Sri Lanka鈥檚 morale. However, Bangladesh shouldn鈥檛 think about what Sri Lanka will do.
They have to pay attention to their performance,鈥� he said.
Both sides have faced each other 16 times to date, among which Bangladesh have won five, while Sri Lanka came out winning in the rest.