Asia Cup: Bangladesh Search For Win vs Sri Lanka To Stay Alive In Super 4

Survival will be foremost in Bangladesh's mind whereas Sri Lanka will aim for a winning start when they cross swords in the second Super 4 match of the Asia Cup on Saturday. A seven-wicket towelling at the hands of Pakistan in the Super 4 opener in Lahore has made a victory mandatory for Bangladesh against the Lankans, assuming that the weather remains dry enough for the match to take place. A defeat will almost certainly put an end to their Asia Cup campaign. Batting is their main concern, and they will have to address it immediately.

They did make 334 for 5 against Afghanistan riding on hundreds by Najmal Shanto and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the league phase.

But they came a cropper against more capable bowling units of Sri Lanka and Pakistan, making meagre totals of 164 and 193 respectively.

That propensity to go flat against top-class opponents will worry them going into the match against Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankans have a set of bowlers like Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana etc who can inflict high damage, and Bangladesh know it first-hand.

The pace-spin combination of Pathirana and Theekshana had taken six wickets among them to restrict Bangladesh to a sub-200 total in a Group B league match at Pallekele on August 31.

Sri Lanka are better placed in that department and pacer Kasun Rajitha had also played a handy role in their narrow win over Afghanistan in the last league match of the Asia Cup in Lahore on September 5.

Even though he went for a lot of runs, Rajitha's four-wicket haul helped Lanka score a narrow 2-run victory in that match, along with the Afghans' unawareness of the run equation.

But the hosts too have their own worries.

The way Afghan batters piled up 289 runs in just 37.4 overs will serve as a