Sri Lanka and Bangladesh battle out in the 1st match of the Super Four stage of Asia Cup 2025 on Saturday, 20th September. The venue for this match is Dubai International Stadium where both teams will play at this venue for the first time this season and the start time is 8:00 PM IST. Ahead of this exciting contest do check out SL vs BAN match winner prediction.
Sri Lanka Preview
Sri Lanka are coming off a dominant six wicket win over Afghanistan in their final group game on Thursday, where they chased down 170 runs in 18.4 overs to clinch their spot in the super four and also topped the group.
Bowling first, Sri Lanka were in control of the game for most part before Mohammad Nabi’s breath taking half century powered Afghanistan to a decent score. Nuwan Thushara bowled a superb spell of 4/18, where he took care of Afghanistan’s top order. While Shanaka with his medium was quite economical in the middle overs finishing with figures of 1/29.
Then in the run-chase the Lankan’s lost Pathum Nissanka and Kamil Mishara quite early in the innings. But the experienced duo of Kusal Mendis (74* runs in 52 balls) and Kusal Perera (28 runs in 20 balls) added 45 runs in quick time.
Kamindu Mendis came out all guns blazing taking down Noor Ahmad and Fazalhaq Farooqi in the end overs as he smashed 26 runs in 13 balls to power his team to Victory.
Bangladesh Preview
Bangladesh’s route to the Super Four stage hasn’t been easy. They started the tournament well by defeating Hong Kong by 7 wickets, but then lost to Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in a one-sided contest. At that point, Bangladesh were almost out of the tournament, but they came back to topple Afghanistan by 8 runs while defending a score of 155.
Tanzid Hasan set up the game for them, batting first and scoring 52 runs in 31 balls, including 4 fours and 3 sixes. Towhid Hridoy played a cameo of 26 runs in 20 balls at the end to take Bangladesh to a respectable total. However, at the halfway point, Afghanistan were ahead and looked set to chase it down.
Nasum Ahmed, playing his first game of the tournament, bowled a brilliant spell with the new ball and finished with figures of 2/11, including a maiden in the powerplay. Mustafizur Rahman used all his experience and turned the game around with some key wickets in the death overs, finishing with figures of 3/28. Taskin Ahmed and Rishad Hossain also chipped in with two wickets each.
SL vs BAN Probable Playing XI
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kamil Mishara, Kusal Perera, Charith Asalanka (c), Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwan Thushara.
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Litton Das (c & wk), Saif Hassan, Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Nasum Ahmed , Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed.
SL vs BAN Pitch Report
The pitch at Dubai International Stadium offers a balanced track that favours both the batters and bowlers. Spinners have been mighty effective at this venue and a 1st innings score of around 150-160 could be par and hard to chase. Teams winning the toss ideally prefer to bat first as the pitch slows down in the later stages of the game.
SL vs BAN Prediction
Sri Lanka are the heavy favourites to win this match. They are the darkhorses in this Asia Cup and are peaking at the right time. Both their batting and bowling unit are in good form, unlike Bangladesh who are struggling to put decent enough runs on the board. We say an easy for Sri Lanka to kickstart their super four stages.
Code: TOPBK
