Published: Sep 01, 2022, 04:12 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 01, 2022, 04:31 PM (IST)
Dubai: Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will face each other in a must-win game of the Asia Cup 2022. Both teams suffered a loss against Afghanistan in their opening game thus this match is a virtual knockout and the winner will join Afghanistan and India in the Super 4s. Meanwhile, ahead of the match, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have gotten into a war of words. It started with Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka saying that Bangladesh is not a strong opposition as Afghanistan. Shanaka said that Bangladesh don’t have any good bowlers in the team apart from Shakib and Mustafizur.
“Afghanistan has a world-class bowling attack. We know Fizz (Mustafizur Rahman) is a good bowler. Shakib is a world-class bowler. But apart from them, there is no world-class bowler in the side. So if we compare with Afghanistan, Bangladesh is an easier opponent,” Shanaka had said as quoted by Hindustan Times.
However, Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud was not impressed by Shanaka’s words and said that Bangladesh at least have two world class bowlers but Sri Lanka doesn’t have even one.
“It’s upto Dasun, why he said that or why he thinks we are (easier opponent). Maybe Afghanistan has a better T20 squad, that’s why he said that. He said a lot of other things as well, he said we have only 2 (world-class) bowlers or something. I don’t see any in Sri Lanka, at least Bangladesh have two. That’s very good. We have at least Mustafizur and Shakib, I don’t think they have world -class bowlers like them,” Mahmud said in a pre-match press conference.
“It’s about how you play the game that matters. Let’s see what happens tomorrow,” the team director further said.
This is not the first time Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have mocked each other. The teams got into a heated exchange after Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka in the Nidhas Trophy.
