Bangladesh takes on Sri Lanka in their second match of the Asia Cup Super Four phase tomorrow (Saturday) at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, a game which turned out to be another 'do or die contest' for them.
The match starts at 3.30pm and will be aired live on Gazi TV and T Sports.
Bangladesh found them in this 'must win' situation after their seven-wicket defeat to Pakistan in their Asia Cup Super Four opening game in Lahore. A defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka will effectively ruin their hopes of playing the Asia Cup final.
The Tigers in fact started their Asia Cup mission with a five-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka at Pallekele in the group phase, which made their game against Afghanistan a 'do or die' game.
Bangladesh however responded brilliantly, crushing Afghanistan by 89 runs as they racked up 334-5, their highest total on foreign soil, in the process.
The question is whether Bangladesh could shift the gear in another must-win situation.
Bangladesh were already weakened by the absence of Najmul Hossain Shanto, an in-form batter who suffered a hamstring injury during his match-winning 104 runs against Afghanistan.
Liton Das replaced him but couldn't ensure the consistency that Shanto provided of late. Liton, an immensely talented player, who has been the best batter for Bangladesh for the last few years, had suffered an inconsistent run recently, which is now a spot of bother for the team.
In the last five years, the Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka match produced some heated moments with the incident of Nidahas Trophy still fresh in the minds of the players of the two countries. However, there was no hint of bitter rivalry in the first match.
Sri Lanka though won the first game against Bangladesh with ease, they were put in a sword during their game against Afghanistan, who could have won the match had their team management been more proactive in calculating the run rate issue.
Even though Bangladesh lost the first game to Sri Lanka, they had the upper hand over the Lankans since 2015, when they established themselves as the giant of the ODI format.
Overall in the Asia Cup, the two teams met 16 times with Sri Lanka winning 13 of them.
In total, the two teams met 52 times in the ODI format of cricket with Sri Lankan emerging as winner 41 times while Bangladesh won 9 matches. The rest of the two matches were washed out.
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan hopes his team will respond enthusiastically in another must-win situation.
"We have been doing well in our bowling department. Batting at this moment is a little bit hot and cold. We need to be consistent and that's what we'll try to do," Shakib said after the match against Pakistan.
"We have to take it on our chin and move to the next one as we have another game against Sri Lanka and I hope we can bounce back to the winning way."
