Second U19 ODI at Dambulla today, Lanka to make 1 change

• “We want to perform like World Cup champions,” says BD U19 coach

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka U19 coach Avishka Gunawardene

Bangladesh U19 coach Mehrab Hossain

Bangladesh’s Under-19 coach for the Sri Lanka tour Mehrab Hossain, known fondly by his nickname ‘Opee’, said that his team would bounce back in the second Under-19 ODI at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium today and perform like world champions.

“We are really proud to be world champions and it is very important to perform like a champion side. I believe in the next match we can bounce back and prove ourselves as champions,” said Mehrab.

Bangladesh won the last U19 World Cup held in South Africa in 2020 beating India in the final. They lost the five-match series opener to Sri Lanka by 42 runs on Thursday and Mehrab was of the view that losing too many wickets early (four) put pressure on their numbers four and six batsmen Aich Mollah and Ariful Islam.

“Though they handled it very well, we lost because we lost too many back-to-back wickets. The last two batsmen didn’t play well, the message we gave them, they didn’t do it the right way, they just threw their wickets away. That is why we lost,” said Mehrab. “We could have won if one of my batsmen, no. 7 or 8 stayed with Mollah and gave him the strike.”

Mollah played a lone hand scoring a valiant 86 off 93 balls and was last out at 186.

Mehrab admitted that having little information about the opposition before the start of the series was a setback.

“We had information of only two players who played in the last U19 World Cup but no information about the rest of the players which was a big setback. Now we have got the footage of the opposition and we can have a discussion and plan what we can do for the matches ahead. We have got something about their batsmen and bowlers, we hope to go with a plan and make things happen. There is a possibility that we can bounce back in the next match.”

Mehrab is the assistant Under-19 coach to head coach Naveed Nawaz, the former Sri Lanka Test and ODI cricketer. “Our head coach is not here, he took leave for one month to be in Australia with his family. I am the head coach of the team for this tour.”

Sri Lanka in the meanwhile are looking to affect one change to the side that won the first ODI by replacing fast bowler Chamidu Wickramasinghe with Vinuja Ranpul from Nalanda College.

“Chamidu has a bit of a pain in the ankle. We might have a look at him in the morning and decide if he is 100%, if not we might have to make one change,” said Sri Lanka coach Avishka Gunawardene.

“The wicket looks a little drier than the first one. Yesterday (Saturday) it was raining here and it has been under covers the whole day. The day before the game also it was exposed to the sun the whole day. But I will still play three fast bowlers. You need to be encouraged to play three fast bowlers all the time if we can,” said Gunawardene.

Gunawardene said that he was happy with the win in the first game but added that they had a long way to go. “We were very rusty. There are a lot of areas we need to improve. The good thing is after being 30-3, to recover and to get 220 was positive. The bowlers were very impressive but on the field, some of the field settings left much to be desired. These boys played their first game together, these shortcomings, I think as the series goes on, will fall into place.”

Gunawardene expected Bangladesh to come back hard at them. “They are a good bunch of players and they are quite capable. We expect them to come back strongly.”