Sakeb Subhan

There were two forces at work in the tour-ending second T20I between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo yesterday.

Last night, after Bangladesh won the second T20I against Sri Lanka, something unusual happened. Shakib Al Hasan went to the press

As successful as this tour of Sri Lanka by the Bangladesh cricket team has been, it has also been one marred by off-field controversies and more than a little cloak-and-dagger.

Most other players would have thought that speaking on their retirement once in the day was enough.

Even before the first T20I started last night at the R Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo two things were certain -- there is a

Three stats dominate the discussion before Bangladesh and Sri Lanka lock horns in the first of two T20Is at the R Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo tonight at 7:30pm (Bangladesh time).

The tour of Sri Lanka has saved Bangladesh's weakest format for last.

Speaking with the shady benefit of hindsight may not be the most honest thing to do, but it will be even more disingenuous to deny that the status of Bangladesh's ODI progress hinged to a large extent on the result of the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo, which they lost by 70 runs on Saturday.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza cut a despondent figure at the post-match press conference after the series-levelling 70-run loss at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground yesterday.

In the series-deciding third ODI at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo yesterday, there were two moments when the match could have gone away from Bangladesh. In the first instance, with Sri Lanka going great guns at 76 for no loss in 10 overs after being asked to bat first on a green pitch with rain in the air, Bangladesh turned the match around and restricted Sri Lanka to 280 for nine.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is the truly larger than life figure in the Bangladesh cricket team.

Throughout Bangladesh's current tour of Sri Lanka, much has depended on the conditions at play, with the coin toss often competing with the skills of the players on the field to be the major actor in determining the outcome. In Tests it was hot and so would have been

On Bangladesh's current tour of Sri Lanka, it is hard to get too far from the tour-opening Galle Test. Till date it was the only truly bad

It was not the best bowling performance from Bangladesh, flat wicket notwithstanding, as Sri Lanka scored 311 all out in the second ODI in Dambulla on Tuesday, a match that was eventually abandoned because of rain after Sri Lanka's innings.

Bangladesh's second ODI against Sri Lanka at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium was abandoned due to incessant rain yesterday

Maintaining the level that they hit while bowling in the first ODI on Saturday was always going to be a tough ask, but yesterday in the second ODI the surprising thing was that Bangladesh's plans as well as execution were wide of the mark as Sri Lanka ran up a total of 311 all out.

After the doldrums of the New Zealand series, it seems that it has taken just one match to turn Bangladesh's ODI team around this season.

In terms of games to be played, Bangladesh's tour of Sri Lanka is exactly halfway through before today's second ODI at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium gets underway at 3:00pm (Bangladesh time).

Putting behind the hullaballoo that surrounded his last-minute inclusion into the ODI squad, Mehedi Hasan Miraz has proved once again that he is a player not cowed by the big occasion.

The day after one of their best performances in ODIs to defeat home side Sri Lanka by 90 runs yesterday, the Bangladesh cricket team were in a relaxed mood at the fabulous Aliya Resort and Spa in Sigiriya, around ten miles away from the Dambulla town centre.