Sri Lanka keen to change their recent record in Chattogram
The Lankan side played four matches here - won two and drew two. The two wins came in 2006 and 2009 while they had to draw those two matches in 2014 and 2018.
Sri Lankan Captain Dimuth Karunaratne is keen to change their record at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram, where they were unable to win any game against Bangladesh in the longer version format since 2014.
The Lankan side played four matches here - won two and drew two. The two wins came in 2006 and 2009 while they had to draw those two matches in 2014 and 2018.
As they take on Bangladesh for the first of two-match Test series for the first time in the new decade, they are eying to change the record.
"We have not won in Chittagong yet (since 2009). We want to change that record and want to move to Dhaka with a winning note," Karunaratne said.
Assistant Coach Naveed Nawaz could be handy in their aspiration to win the game as he coached the Bangladesh Under-19 team not so long ago, he added.
"Naveed was here for a few years with BD under 19 team. So, he knows the condition well. We can get some ideas from him. But we have to play good cricket from day one to day five."
Sri Lanka won the first 12 matches in a row between September 2001 and March 2013 after which Bangladesh turned the tide. In the last 10 Test matches between the two sides, Bangladesh though lost five, they won one in 2017 and forced Sri Lanka to draw four matches.
"Everyone has responsibility in the team. As a batsman, yes I have more of course. Myself, Angelo, as senior players, we need to raise our hands and make some good innings in this condition. We don't want to put more pressure on the youngsters. In previous years, we have done really well and I hope we will do well again," Karunaratne said.
He, however, predicted a high-scoring match here as he found the wicket is pretty flat. But he is confident that his bowlers would find a way to get past Bangladesh.
"If you look at the wickets here, it's pretty flat. Yes, they (Bangladesh) were brilliant in home conditions. But we think we can do much better than the previous years. So, we will see how it goes," he remarked.
Bangladesh looked to have been boosted by the return of Shakib Al Hasan but Karunratne said that they even prepared for the ace allrounder before he made his way to the side, recovering from Covid-19.
"When we came here, we knew the Bangladesh squad and Shakib was there. We knew he would play and we took preparation accordingly. If he could not play that might be an advantage for us but there is no sudden change of plans for us at the moment," he said.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka cricket team came to Bangladesh for a two-match Test series amid a political turmoil back in their country.
"So far I don't think it (the political turmoil) has affected us," Lankan assistant coach Naveed Nawaz said.
"Most of the cricketers are continuing to do their hard work. Their training has been ongoing for a couple of months," he added.
