DHAKA: Bangladesh will play against Sri Lanka in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Pool A match at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on Thursday morning.

The match will kick off at 9:30am Bangladesh Time.

Bangladesh are on the verge of a quarterfinal berth. With a opening match win against Afghanistan, and a washout against co-hosts, Australia in Brisbane, Bangladesh enter the contest with 3 points and a super net run rate of +2.100.

A win against Sri Lanka at the historic MCG, will almost guarantee a spot in the quarterfinals.

Although the Bangladesh dressing may be expected to be in a bit of turmoil in the aftermath of the Al Amin affair, Bangladesh have bounced back from trauma and tragedy to resounding victories before.

Bangladesh can choose to use eight batsmen and the three-man pace attack. Soumya Sarkar is likely to continue at No. 3.

Sri Lankan’s Jeevan Mendis' hamstring tear means that Dushmantha Chameera, the tall pace bowler, has a chance to take his place.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza ““We have defeated Sri Lanka in recent times and can do so again if we play to our potential. We are familiar with their players, who have a lot of experience. But then it takes just one ball to get a batsman out. The important thing is to stick to our plans.”

“If we lost to Sri Lanka in the past it meant we did not play those games well, it's as simple as that. If we do well there is no reason why we can't beat them.”

“It looks to me to be a good wicket. We have seen the India-South Africa match as well. Looks like it will be a good batting track. It will be fine. It will be nice," Mashrafe Mortaza added.

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said, “If we click as a group, I think we can do wonders. We just need to click. What we need to learn is to dominate from ball one and stay in the game till the end. Lasith (Malinga) is working extremely hard at the nets,” said Mathews.

“One has to be at the peak when the quarterfinals come, and he and the others are working towards that,” he added.

Squads
 
Bangladesh (possible)
1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Anamul Haque, 3 Soumya Sarkar, 4 Mahmudullah, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim, 7 Sabbir Rahman, 8 Mominul Haque, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Rubel Hossain

Sri Lanka (possible)
1 Lahiru Thirimanne, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Dimuth Karunaratne, 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Angelo Mathews (capt), 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Dushmantha Chameera, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Suranga Lakmal

BDST: 0816 HRS, FEB 26, 2015