Upbeat Tigers look for ODI success

The ongoing tour of Sri Lanka seems to have a recurring theme -- that of Bangladesh confounding expectations. In the first Test at Galle, there was the expectation that Bangladesh would play well there as they made their highest Test score to date there in 2013, but they came up with one of their worst Test batting performances in recent memory.

At the P Sara Oval in Colombo the situation was reversed as Bangladesh had three innings defeats to look back upon at the venue, but they put in one of their best sustained performances in a Test to win their 100th. That trend bodes well for Bangladesh fans as in the series-opening ODI today starting at 3:00pm (Bangladesh time), they will be playing at a venue where they have lost all their matches by big margins.

Bangladesh have played just three matches at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, and all three were played in June 2010 during the Asia Cup. They lost those matches by six wickets to India, 126 runs to Pakistan and 139 runs to the home team and their opponents today, Sri Lanka. In the Pakistan match they conceded their second-highest ODI total -- 385 for seven.

"We played in the Asia Cup here, but it was a really bad performance. We want to give our best, and be up to the mark from the first ball," Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said at the pre-match press conference yesterday. "If we can't do this, we must fight till the last ball. We have to keep the spirit, which I feel is present in the team. Those players who were in the Test team should be quite confident. I feel we can play well."

This being a day-night game, it will be interesting to see how the pitch behaves under lights and whether dew is a factor. Neither captain has had a lot of experience playing here, but thought that the pitch would be a good one for batting.

"We haven't played a lot of games here," Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga said. "The last time we played was against Australia. Normally the Dambulla wicket is good for batting, but the ball tends to move a bit in the evening."

That may mean that winning the toss and batting first will be the way to go, but with both teams traditionally reliant on spin, the evening dew may make it difficult. In other words, today's match may be a bit of a feeler for both sides in terms of tactics ahead of the second game here on Tuesday.

Although Bangladesh have included uncapped off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz in the squad at the eleventh hour, it is unlikely that he will get a look-in tomorrow.

Instead, Sanjamul Islam is in line for a debut to form a two-man spin attack with Shakib Al Hasan. Subashis Roy, who bowled well in the Test series, is likely to come in, in place of Taskin Ahmed, to form a three-pronged pace attack with Mashrafe and Mustafizur Rahman.

Bangladesh have also lost 24 of their 27 matches in Sri Lanka, winning two and one being a no-result. The two matches they won were against Hong Kong in 2004, and more encouragingly they won their last game in Sri Lanka against the home side -- their only victory over the hosts in 16 attempts -- in March 2013 in Pallekelle.

However, they lost the sides' last match in the 2015 World Cup. But as they have shown recently, past results are a poor indicator and today, both sides will look to hit the pitch running to gain the early edge in the three-match series.