2nd ODI washed out Ban vs Sri

It seemed that Bangladesh’s month-long tour of Sri Lanka would witness a rare happening, but tradition continued as rain ruled out the second ODI at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium yesterday. One can’t imagine the passage of a cricket series in Sri Lanka without any sort of rain interruption, but for a while it seemed that there would be a break in that tradition as rain did not play any part in the two Tests in Galle and Colombo and the first ODI played here on Saturday. Rains were predicted before the first Test at Galle and it did start raining
heavily fifteen minutes from close of play on the first day but ultimately no time was lost in the match which ended in a draw after a run-fest.

It is said that the rain in Hambantota is different to other parts of the country as it does not rain much but when it rains it stays for some time. Even so, when a drizzle interrupted play when Sri Lanka had reached 33 for no loss, it was hoped that that at least a curtailed-over match would be possible but the steadily increasing intensity of the downpour saw the match called off at 6:45pm local time.
As per pacer Rubel Hossain’s desire, captain Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and did not hesitate to give his inexperienced pace bowlers a chance under cloudy conditions. But Kushal Perera and Tillakaratne Dilshan were in the same murderous mood which saw the pair outclass the Bangladesh attack to secure a comfortable eight-wicket victory in the first ODI on Saturday.

The pitch had a tinge of green but the Bangladesh pace bowlers, whose inexperience is one of the main sources of concern for their captain, could take hardly any advantage of it. Ziaur Rahman looked a little better than his partner Rubel, who was however unlucky as wicketkeeper Mushfiqur dropped Dilshan.

It was interesting to see Zia, who has recently developed into a batting all-rounder after recovering from an injury, opening the bowling as Abul Hasan’s wayward bowling in the first game and workload in the Test series forced the team management to give him a rest. Nazmul Hossain’s replacement on the tour, Shahadat Hossain, was not considered  as the pacer had just arrived the previous evening. As expected, Jahurul Islam replaced the injured Tamim Iqbal.
Bangladesh strengthened their batting order in the second match as they brought left-handed Mominul Haque in place of Hasan.

The Tigers will leave for Kandy by helicopter today to play the third and final ODI and lone T20I at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on March 28 and March 31 respectively.
The third ODI becomes the decider now as Sri Lanka must win it to take the series, while Bangladesh must emerge victorious to come away with a 1-1 result.


------http://www.thedailystar.net