The first match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 is going to be held on the 7th of October at Mohali through the Bangladesh v Sri Lanka match. With this match the qualifying round will start where four teams will compete to be one of those two teams to be reached in the main round with other 6 teams elected beforehand.
The two teams are standing in two different stage of the world cricket. Former world champion, Sri Lanka, is undoubtedly favorite in the battle and one of the favorite teams in the tournament too. However, considering one of the significant phenomenon of cricket, uncertainty, anything might happen in the field as both of them are in the elite members of test cricket.
It is notable that, Bangladesh got their first victory against Sri Lanka in this year while Sri Lanka was visiting Bangladesh. Though, Bangladesh has not a good record in both ODI and Test cricket, they are playing well in these days. Especially after recruiting some potential young cricket like Nafees Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Shadat Hossain, Syed Rasel etc. Besides these young stars, there are some experienced players too. Mohammed Rafique, Khaled Masud, Habibul Bashar are playing for the team for a long time. So, from this point of view, the present Bangladesh team is a combination of experience and youth. Khaled Masud is one of the experienced wicketkeepers of one day international cricket at present. Bangladesh can take some inspiration from their last series against Kenya where they white washed Kenya with a 3-0 victory.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka as a favorite side of this tournament is undoubtedly a cricket power in the world cricket. Though with their Australian coach Tom Moody, they could not meet with the expectations of the fans especially in the series with India and New Zealand, they could be able to regain some of their lost confidence in their last series against England as they could win the one day series with 4-0 against England.
As wickets in India are traditionally helped the spinners, then Muralitharan and Rafique may play a vita role not only in this match rather throughout the tournament. Sangakkara and Jayawardene may lead Sri Lanka in their batting line up. For Bangladesh, undoubtedly opener Nafees Iqbal will have the great responsibility as he is in his highest form at present and Aftab Ahmed may smashed down any bowling attack which is very eventual for this hard hitter.
At last, the fans can expect good cricket from the first match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 where no team will loose and the victory will be for cricket.
No comments:
Post a Comment