Who will win Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh 1st Test?
The two-match test series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is set to kick off with the first test scheduled to be played from March 7 at the Galle International Stadium. The match will begin at 10 AM local time.
SL vs Ban 1st Test: Where to watch/Live streaming
TV channels: Ten Sports, Channel 9
Live streaming: Sky Sports, Bet365
Toss Prediction
Galle International Stadium has witnessed a total of 22 result-producing test matches out of which 14 (including the most recent 3) have been won by the side that has batted first. Therefore, the team that wins the toss in this match will most likely throw the ball over to the opposition. Sri Lanka have won their last three tests at this ground batting first after winning the toss. So we predict the hosts to win the toss and elect to bat first.
Read on for team previews, betting tips, latest odds and match prediction for Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh 1st test...
Sri Lanka Team News & Playing 11
Team News
Angelo Mathews will miss the test series as he has yet to recover from his hamstring injury. Rangana Herath will be in charge of the team in his absence. While the selectors have dropped Kusal Perera and Kaushal Silva from the squad, Asela Gunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella have been given a call up.
Key Players
Sri Lanka will look to Dinesh Chandimal to power them with a strong performance with the bat. The wicketkeeper-batsman is averaging 63.20 at the Galle. Niroshan Dickwella has also been in good form and he is likely to open the batting. Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera have impressive bowling figures at this ground and the two will share the wicket-taking responsibility. Herath has taken 84 wickets here from 15 tests and we predict him to be the standout bowler for Sri Lanka in this match.
Recent Form
Sri Lanka have played 11 tests since 2016 out of which they have won 5 and lost as many with one of the matches ending in a draw. Their streak of five wins which included a 3-0 wipeout of Australia at home and a 2-0 win over Zimbabwe was put to an end as they went down 0-3 in South Africa against the hosts in their most recent test series.
Sri Lanka Predicted Playing 11
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FDM Karunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella, Asela Gunaratne, BKG Mendis, DM de Silva, LD Chandimal (wk), WU Tharanga, HMRKB Herath (c), RAS Lakmal, Dilruwan Perera, N Pradeep.
Bangladesh Team News & Playing 11
Team News
Paceman Mustafizur Rahman has cleared his fitness test and will be joining the Bangladeshi test squad along with fellow fast bowler Rubel Hossain. Opener Imrul Kayes has not recuperated from his thigh injury and has thus been ruled out of the first test. Liton Das will take over the role of specialist wicketkeeper in place of Mushfiqur Rahim.
Key Players
Mushfiqur Rahim has a double hundred at the Galle and he also hit a century in the recent one-off test against India. He will be a key member in the Bangladeshi batting lineup along with Tamim Iqbal who is currently their highest run-scorer in the longest format. We predict Rahim to top-score for his side in this match. Shakib Al Hasan is expected to make decent contributions with both the bat and the ball while Mahmudullah who has three wickets at this ground will be a bowler to watch out for.
Recent Form
Bangladesh have not been able to bring their limited-overs mojo into the test format. They have not been doing well of late as they have lost four of their last five matches. They were beaten 0-2 by New Zealand earlier in the year and their most recent defeat came against India in a one-off test match.
Bangladesh Predicted Playing 11
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Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (c), Liton Das (wk), Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Kamrul Islam.
Team form in last five matches (most recent first)
Sri Lanka: L L L W W
Bangladesh: L L L W L
Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh Head to Head
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have played 16 test matches against each other in the past of which 14 have been won by the former while the remaining two have resulted in a draw. One of these drawn matches was played at the Galle in 2013 in what has been the only test match to be played between the two sides at this ground.
Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh 1st Test Betting Odds
Sri Lanka start as mighty favorites to win this first test at 1.7 with betfair and 1.57 each with bet365 and betway. They have been a hard team to beat at home and not too long ago, they had thrashed Australia here 3-0 in the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy. Bangladesh will be coming into this match with consecutive series defeats and they have never beaten Sri Lanka before in a test match. They are outsiders at 5.50 with both 1xbet and bet365 while betway has them slightly shorter at 5. A draw is up at 4.3, 4 and 4.33 respectively.
Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh 1st Test Prediction
Clear weather has been forecasted for the first three days of the match with possibility of showers on the final two days. This will give Bangladesh a ray of hope who believe they will have a chance at a draw if they don't allow the hosts to throw them out of the game in the first three days itself. With that said, Sri Lanka are a powerful unit in their own den and putting up a strong a resistance against somebody like Rangana Herath in these conditions will be an uphill task for the tourists. Sri Lanka may have been clean swept in their last test series in South Africa, but at home, they are giants and we predict them to start this series off with a win.
Final Verdict: Back Sri Lanka to beat Bangladesh in the first test match at 1.7 with 1xbet and 1.57 with both bet365 and betway.
Mar 07, 2017
10:00 IST / 4:30 GMT
Galle Cricket Stadium - Colombo, Sri Lanka
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