The two-match test series between touring Bangladesh and hosts Sri Lanka begins on Wednesday at the Pallakelle International Cricket Stadium in the Lankan tourist town of Kandy, reports UNB.
The match will start at 10:30 am (Bangladesh time) without any spectator in the stadium. Gazi TV and T- Sports will telecast the match live alongside other international channels in Bangladesh.
The two-match test series is also a part of the World Test Championship. The second and last match of the series will be held from 29 April to 3 May at the same venue. Bangladesh played five matches of this event but failed to win any of them.
The upcoming series will be marked as the Bangladesh’s first Test series abroad during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bangladesh, ranked 9th in the Test, are coming off an embarrassing 2-0 test defeat at home against relatively weaker West Indies recently while Sri Lanka, now ranked 7th in the test, have not won a match against the top nine opposition teams since August 2019.
Bangladesh’s Test record is such that it is considered inevitable they will not threaten on foreign soil. They have won only one away test in the last five years and since that one win, which came in Sri Lanka in 2017, they have lost each of their nine Tests abroad, all by huge margins.
Bangladesh played a total of 12 Tests in Sri Lanka and won only one of them, which was Bangladesh’s 100th test and they lost 10 matches with ending up one in a draw.
Bangladesh’s captain Mominul Haque has earlier said that that they have the ability to win this series although they will miss the services of two vital players --world famed all-rounder Shakib Al Hassan and left arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, both are now busy in playing Indian Premier league (IPL).
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Wednesday announced a 15-member squad for the first test after the team’s first practice session in Kandy. Earlier, a 21-member Bangladesh preliminary test squad reached Colombo on 12 April.
However, the cricketers, who are not excluded from the final squad, will stay with the team in Sri Lanka, but will not get entrance to the test match venue.
Shuvagata Hom, who made a surprise comeback to the Test set-up after a gap of four years, has not been included in the squad.
After reaching in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh team were transferred to Negombo for a three-day quarantine between 12 and 14 April and made individual practice session for two days there.
Later, the preliminary squad played an intra-squad two-day practice match in Katunayake on 17-18 April.
On completion of the practice match on Sunday, Touring Bangladesh team reached test venue Kandy on Monday afternoon.
Of the 21 member preliminary squad, two uncapped pacers -- Shohidul Islam and Mukidul Islam Mugdho -- were ignored in the final squad alongside pacer Syed Khaled Ahmed, off-spinner Nayeem Hasan, Nurul Hassan and Shuvagata Hom.
Final squad of Bangladesh for the first Test
Mamunul Haque (Cap), Liton Kumar Das, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Shadman Islam, Abu Jayed Rahi, Taijul Islam, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Mohammed Saif Hassan, Yasir Ali Chowdhury and Shoriful Islam.