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Dickwella dropped, Rubel injured as teams rejig first XI
Bangladesh opt to bat vs Sri Lanka
Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat in the first ODI against Sri Lanka – the match going ahead after Sri Lanka endured a Covid scare overnight.
As all members of the touring party are essentially clear now, however, the focus can shift to the cricket. Sri Lanka have chosen to leave out Niroshan Dickwella in this match despite his 88 not out in the intra-squad warm-up match.
Kusal Perera will take the gloves in his first match as captain. Young batsmen Pathum Nissanka and Ashen Bandara are both in the side, and Dasun Shanaka – who missed the series in West Indies – comes back into the XI as well.
Bangladesh, meanwhile, have included batting allrounder Afif Hossain, who plays his second international, and is expected to bat in the lower middle order. An injury to Rubel Hossain also means that right-arm seamer Mohammad Saifuddin plays, alongside other frontline quicks – Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman.
This is the first of three ODIs, all of which will be played in Mirpur.
Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal (capt), 2 Liton Das, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Mohammad Mithun, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Afif Hossain, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Mohammad Saifuddin, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
Sri Lanka: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Kusal Perera (wk) (capt.), 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Dhananjaya de Silva, 6 Ashen Bandara, 7 Dasun Shanaka, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Isuru Udana, 10 Lakshan Sandakan, 11 Dushmantha Chameera
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @afidelf