Sri Lanka ‘want to take a win home’

Despite losing the three-match ODI series against hosts Bangladesh 2-0 with a game in hand, Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur remained optimistic about winning the final game of the series tomorrow as he refused to claim the match to be a dead-rubber.  

"There are no dead rubbers with the World ODI Championship and qualification for the 2023 World Cup. Every ODI is worth ten points," said the 53-year-old coach today ahead of their final game of the series tomorrow in Mirpur. 

Sri Lanka traveled with a rather inexperienced side, leaving a few key players like Angelo Matthews and Dimuth Karunaratne out of the squad and under the new leadership of Kusal Perera. And playing a full-strength Bangladesh at home, Sri Lanka, unsurprisingly, were hammered in the first two ODIs. 

Coming on a tour of Bangladesh with a relatively inexperienced side, Arthur mentioned that he always expected a 'tough competition' from Bangladesh.  

"Shakib [Al Hasan], Tamim [Iqbal] and Mushfiqur [Rahim] have played over 200 games. Mahmudullah [Riyad] is close to 200 games [196 ODIs]. [Along with] Mustafizur [Rahman] and Mehedi [Hasan Miraz], they are a very good unit in their own conditions now. We were expecting really tough competition from Bangladesh. They have certainly given us that," Arthur said.

Sri Lanka are now sulking at the bottom of the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League table with zero wins in five games. And Arthur said he would like his team to win tomorrow and grab the 10 points available. 

"We want to close off here with a good, hard, disciplined performance tomorrow. We want to take a win home," Arthur added.