Thursday, 19 July 2007

Bangladesh look to youth in the first ODI against Sri Lanka

Bangladesh team management have announced a youthful playing XI for the first one day match against Sri Lanka leaving out veteran opener Javed Omar and lanky pace bowler Shahadat Hossain. The match will start tomorrow (Friday) at 4:30 GMT at P Sara stadium in Colombo.

The average age of the Bangladesh squad is only 22 in which left arm spinner Abdur Razzak is the oldest at the age of 25. The fearless attitude of Bangladesh youth brigade earned significant respect after defeating

Bangladesh look to youth in the first ODI

Bangladesh look to youth in the first ODI ©Cricinfo

India and South Africa in the last world cup, and team management will be hoping a similar performance to salvage the pride after a poor Test series.

Bangladesh were completely outplayed by Sri Lanka in the Test series and lost the series 3-0. Bangladesh is desperately looking for some credible performances from the young guns to turn the table around in the ODI series.

Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful wants to build on the ODI success achieved over the last 12-13 months and is confident to put up a much better performance on the field compared to the Test series.

"We have played a lot of one-day matches over the last 12-13 months and have a good success rate. I am confident that we will put up a much improved performance in the ODI series. We want to win at least one match”, said Ashraful.

"We want a good start whether it is in batting or bowling. I think if that happens then that will set us up nicely for the rest of the match as the players would feel a lot more confident", he added.

Squad

Bangladesh: Shahriar Nafees, Tamim Iqbal, Tushar Imran, Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Shakib al Hassan, Aftab Ahmed, Mushfiqur Rahim, Farhad Reza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Syed Rasel, Abdur Razzak

Sri Lanka (from): Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Chamara Silva, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Malinga Bandara, Nuwan Kulasekera, Upul Chandana

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