The side bowling second in Mirpur is certainly at a disadvantage. Bangladesh and India were victims of the deadly dew, having stated the obvious, make no mistake that Sri Lanka were the superior outfit in both their outings.

Bangladesh who struggled at 79 runs for 4 wickets showed maturity by setting the Sri Lankans a target of 261. The pertinent point is, the visitors reached the target with 5 overs to spare and would have easily earned the bonus point if not for Dilshans’ injury.

Fair enough to sympathize with the Bangladesh spinners not having the usual grip with the  soaked ball, however being the host team they should have had a pre plan to counter the inevitable by grooming a better seam attack.

The Bangladesh seam department lacks venom to trouble top order batsman from quality sides. Sangakkara and Dilshan are world class players, had the host team seam attack bowled with more purpose, they would not have leaked so many runs to the duo.

An all spin attack, will not help the visitors. They need to make inroads early with the new ball because, in this competition the opposition consist of world class players in the likes of Dilshan, Tharanga, Sangakkara and Samaraweera for Sri Lanka, while with India its Shewag, Gambir, Kholi, Yuvraj and Dhoni.

If Bangladesh need to keep their home fans happy it’s the opening bowlers who must catch the big fish up front and not expect their 4 man spin attack to do the damage with the soggy ball.

Dhoni said it all, Tough for bowlers in these conditions, but let’s not make that an excuse.

Bangladesh should have scored more runs against a depleted Sri Lankan bowling attack minus their top performers like, Muralitheran, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando and Sanath Jayasuriya.

Shakib al Hassan and his boys put into bat should have targeted more runs considering the fact that Sri Lanka had only one recognized bowler in Kulasekera and two new finds Welegedera and Randiv.

Dilshan, and Sangakakra made batting look too easy and were always ahead of the Bangladeshis from the word go. The appended, will give you an insight of the early onslaught in which one ascertain the Sri Lankan dominance.

India no doubt took the firm favorites spot in their outing against the Sri Lankans. Dhoni made it very clear that the opposission without senior players including the late injury to Dilshan are very formidable, based on the fact the replacements despite being baby’s at this level are there to prove a point. The new finds have proved to the cricketing fraternity that they ready for the big stage.

Welegedera is sensational, the left arm seam bowler is not only lethal, but has an excellent cricketing brain. He scalped 5 big wickets against team India, also take into account that he kept his nerve like a senior pro in India’s batting power play overs.

Suraj Randiv with his off spin went wicket less against India. The pertinent point to note is that he bowled with maturity, and made run making difficult for the Indians who play spin so well. In an Indian score of 279 for 9 wickets the young Randiv can stand tall with his excellent bowling figures that read as follows.

O     M   R   W

10   00   36 00

Lahiru Thirimanna on debut played some exquisite cover drives for his 22. He looks a classy player, in the fullness of time he will be a player to reckon with. The young lad got hot headed but that’s growing up. Coach Anusha Samaranayake didn’t mince his words when he told this scribe, that the young left hander is a pure bread, who can drive on the up, sees the ball early and boasts of a good cricketing brain.

Sri Lanka’s fourth fresh leg on show yesterday was Thisara Perera. Just hold your breath, at Nagpur he spanked them for 38 runs in 14 balls, in Dhaka he spanks them for 36 off 15 balls. Perera will give the Indians lot to think about, his bowling figures of 2 for 27 in six overs, in which he scalped two prize wickets that of Dhoni and Yuvraj will worry the Indians.

India had to bat first in yesterday’s game. Like I made mention in my script, “No prizes on offer as to what the captain will decide if he wins the toss at Shere Bangla stadium”

India should have scored more runs against Sri Lanka’s bowling attack taking into consideration their strong batting line up. Sri Lanka got vital wickets at the right time, through Welegedera, and did the containment job through, Suraj Randiv, and effected great ground fielding and throwing courtesy of the youngsters, while precise catching with the gloves was executed by Sangakakra.

In pursuit of 280, against a much better bowling attack than their first outing, the absence of Dilshan at the top, coupled with the missing link of Charmara Silva, and an injured player in Pushpakumara, expected to bat only if the need arose, the Sri Lankans thanks to Samaraweera who had the last laugh at his critics joined his captain to repair, resurrect and build a match winning partnership. The Icing on the cake was courtesy Thisara Perera, who made sure to hang in there with Samaraweera, who together with Sangakkara architected the target, to precise perfection, in a calculated manner as per the appended statistics.