Asia Cup 2018: Match 1 - Preview, Head-to-Head, Weather, Team news & Key stats

The Asia Cup 2018 is on the cards and is all set to commence on 15th of September. Five permanent ICC members along with one associate member, Hong Kong, will be a part of the upcoming Asia Cup. The tournament will kick-start with an encounter between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh will be entering the tournament with a lot of confidence owing to their current form. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will be hoping to start the league on a positive note after a sorry performance against South Africa at home.

Group B, Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, 1st Match details:

Match Date: 15 September 2018, Saturday

Match Timing: 17:00 IST, 11:30 AM GMT, 15:30 Local

Match Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai, UAE

Expected Crowd Turnout: With an opening encounter on the cards, it is expected to be a jam-packed affair with a total crowd turnout of 24,700.

Team News

Sri Lanka's Dinesh Chandimal has been ruled out of the tournament due to a finger injury. Wicket-keeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella has replaced him in the squad. On the other hand, Bangladesh seems to have no reported injury from their camp.

Weather

With the opener to be an afternoon affair, the temperature is expected to be hovering around the 42 degree Celsius. The humidity levels will be clocking around 30 per cent mark. With no cloud cover, the rain is not expected to play the spoilsport in the course of the game. Thus, it is expected to be a hot day in Dubai on 15th September.

Pitch report

The pitch at Dubai International Cricket Stadium has been on the slower side. Moreover, the pitch has been quite dry which brings a lot of spin into the play. Nonetheless, with the sun setting down, the role of spinners will see a bit of downfall owing to the considerable dew factor.

Head-to-head

36 - 6 in favour of Sri Lanka. Till date, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have met each other on 44 occasions in ODIs. Out of these 44 meetings, Sri Lanka has been victorious on 36 occasions while Bangladesh on six occasions with two matches ending in a No Result affair.

Bangladesh's Squad for Asia Cup 2018

Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe Mortaza (C), Mohammad Mithun, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Ariful Haque, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Nazmul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Hider Rony, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, and Mominul Haque.

Sri Lanka's Squad for Asia Cup 2018

Angelo Mathews (C), Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Thisara Perera, Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Akila Dananjaya, Dilruwan Perera, Amila Aponso, Kasun Rajitha, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera, Lasith Malinga, and Niroshan Dickwella.

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Statistics & Numbers

5 - Mashrafe Mortaza is just five wickets shy from the mark of 250 ODI wickets. Scalping five more wickets, Mashrafe will become the first Bangladeshi bowler to take 250 wickets in ODIs.

43 - Danushka Gunathilaka needs to score 43 more runs to complete 1000 ODI runs.

63 - Mahmudullah needs 63 runs more to achieve the mark of 3500 runs in ODI cricket. In this process, he will become the only fourth Bangladeshi to score 3500 or more runs in ODI cricket.