Bangladesh Tri-Nation Series 2018

Bangladesh is all geared up to host a tri-nation one-day tournament featuring Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in the month of January 2018. A total of six games will be played in the competition excluding the grand finale. All three sides will play four games each and will battle it out for a place in the finals that will be played on 27^th Jan 2018 at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.

The side led by Mashrafe Mortaza had a torrid time in South Africa and will be keen to make amends at home against teams that have been in poor form in the 50-over format. For Bangladesh, Soumya Sarkar has been dropped as Anamul Haq has been picked for tri-nation series. Taskin Ahmed also has faced the axe as selectors have retained Mohammad Saifuddin in the 16-man squad.

Bangladesh will see this tri-nation a great chance to win this competition. Mashrafe Mortaza will be determined that his team comes back to winning ways at home. Bangladesh has been superb in the one-day games played at home in the last 2 years and been able to beat a lot of strong opponents like India and South Africa.

Sri Lanka is going through a transition phase as the side has experienced poor form in the format. Upul Tharanga quit the post of one-day captaincy to see Thisara Perera take over the role. Angelo Matthews has been reappointed as captain of the side following the arrival of new coach Chandika Hathurusingha.

Dinesh Chandimal, Upul Tharanga, Kusal Perera will have a big role to play if Sri Lanka wants to win this tournament. The side has got talented young players in Asela Gunaratne, Akila Dhananjaya and Danushka Gunathilaka who have done well in this short period of the time. Sri Lanka will need to produce clinical performances and string together a couple of positive results to see the side back to winning ways.

Suranga Lakmal has been a top-notch performer for the side with the ball across all formats. Nuwan Pradeep has been decent and been a good new-ball partner to Lakmal. The Islanders have struggled in the middle overs as spinners have largely been poor in the last couple of months. Lakshan Sandakan, Akila Dhananjaya will need to raise their game if Sri Lanka wants to do well in this tri-nation series.

Angelo Matthews has shown signs of form on the tour to India and did produce valiant knocks with the bat for Sri Lanka. He has been a big player for Sri Lanka as selectors will be hoping that he can start his second stint as one-day captain with victory in this tri-nation series in Bangladesh.

Zimbabwe has done a decent job over the last one year as they managed to push sides like Sri Lanka and West Indies across all formats. The side led by Graeme Cremer did well in Sri Lanka and managed to upstage the host in the five-match one-day series. Solomon Mire and Hamilton Masakadza have topped batting charts for Zimbabwe in the year 2017. The side has good players in Craig Ervine, Malcolm Waller and Sean Williams producing good performances during this time.Graeme Cremer and Tendai Chatara have been premier bowlers for the side while Chris Mpofu has been seasoned front-line seamer for the side.

The first game of the tri-nation competition will see hosts Bangladesh take on Zimbabwe at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka on 15^th Jan.