Sri Lanka ensured a share of the current T20 series with Bangladesh when they won the opening match in Colombo on Tuesday and they will be aiming to take the second and final game at the same venue when the two meet again on Thursday.
Bangladesh have made good strides on this tour and they will be looking to finish it with a bang before key players from both sides head off to India to play in the IPL.
Sri Lanka
This format of the game has been Sri Lanka’s strongest by a long way for a while now and they were in complete control of the opening match pretty much from the start when Tamim Iqbal fell to Lasith Malinga in the opening over. When Bangladesh did threaten to get away Sri Lanka soon put a stop to it in a solid performance.
If there was anything to be concerned about heading into the series it might have been how the Sri Lankans were going to handle the pressure of expectation with the bat but there were no such issues and indeed they could probably have chased down even more if they had needed to. That offers encouragement.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh fought hard throughout the first match but in truth they were always swimming against the tide. They did well to take the match into the penultimate over given that they couldn’t find any wickets at the right times but they are going to need to up their game remarkably if they are to end this tour with a win.
If Bangladesh are going to win this match you would think it will be with the bat so they could do with batting second in an ideal world. If they don’t do that then they need a lot more from their top order to put up a big total which can pile the pressure on the Sri Lankan batsman ahead of any run chase.
Team News
After a thoroughly dominant performance in the first match it is unlikely to see too many changes for Sri Lanka unless they want to bring another spinner into the fray.
Taskin Ahmed went around the park in the opening match and it might be that he is replaced by one of the spinners that Bangladesh are carrying around with them.
Betting
I still expect Sri Lanka to win this match. I think they are head and shoulders above Bangladesh in this format of the game but the price to win and the handicaps offer little value now so I’m heading to the side markets for a bet on the match.
The one I like is for there to be more than 305.5 total runs in the match. We saw 313 runs in the opening game and while the match is on the same wicket I don’t expect it to have deteriorated too much and certainly not enough to detract from run scoring.
When we consider that Bangladesh’s three main men in Tamim, Sabbir and Mushfiqur scored a total of 24 runs between them in the first match there is a lot more to come from them. Sri Lanka had plenty more in them too so the overs look nice here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 305.5 total runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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