Sri Lanka cricket team’s captain Dimuth Karunaratne believes Bangladesh has been affected by the absence of Shakib Al Hasan. He believes it is impossible to replace the ace all-rounder and his absence is creating the debacle for Tigers who have lost first two one-day internationals of three match series in their short Sri Lanka tour.
“As I said earlier the main thing was Shakib. If you take the World Cup Bangladesh did really well because of Shakib and Mushfiqur [Rahim], those are the two batsmen that carried them through the World Cup. They batted really well and kept scoring big runs, and the team was as a result scoring 250, 300-plus. Once Shakib isn’t there they have to fill that hole in both the bowling and batting, I can’t see anyone who can replace him. And at that time they had to bring in two players for the batting and bowling, and that’s why they couldn’t balance the side and struggled as a result,” said Dimuth to the reporters in Colombo on Tuesday ahead of the third and final match of the series that is scheduled to take place in Colombo today.
The Tigers had come to the series without Shakib who was granted leave along with Liton Das and ODI captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza due to injury.
It was expected that Bangladesh will have the table turned to their side and recover from the below par performance of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 but instead they have sunk into more trouble. For the hapless loking side, which has already lost the series, a win in the dead rubber has now become a straw of hope that they clutch to somewhat redeem them from further drowning.
Bangladesh cricket team’s stand-in captain Tamim Iqbal has emphasized the importance of the senior member in the team performing ahead of their tie in the third and the final game of the ongoing series against hosts Sri Lanka on Wednesday. https://t.co/VrECjLvSsC
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) July 30, 2019
Both bowling and fielding have been far for impressive but it has been the batting for Bangladesh that has been under the microscope of severe criticism. Top order failures has been something the team has been dealing since the World Cup and it has been the same in Colombo where it was Mushfiqur Rahim who did most part of the charges but to see it all go in vain. In World Cup, Shakib had played the lead role with the bat scoring 604 runs batting at number three and bagged 11 wickets in eight innings. Even the Lankan skipper could feel the situation of his opponents.
“The main thing was Shakib [Al Hasan], he played a huge role. I think that’s why we felt that without Shakib they may struggle a little to balance the side. I think we also lifted our game after the World Cup, we have been playing as a team, with high confidence, and I think that’s why we have done so well,” the Lankan said.
The situation has become even more critical for cornered Tigers as Sri Lankan head coach Chandika Hathurusingha is helping his side a great deal with the Bangladesh insights. Hathurusingha had guided these set of the Bangladesh players during his tenure as the national head coach with the Bangladesh Cricket Board from 2014 to 2017.
Sri Lanka with a clean sweep against Bangladesh will finish with better rating points in the ICC ODI rankings. The Lankans are now at number eight with 79 points and a 3-0 win in the series will have them finish with 82 rating points. While for Bangladesh, who are at number seven currently, a white wash will reduce their rating points from 90 to 82.