The match will begin at 3pm Bangladesh time. BTV, GTV and Maasranga channels will telecast the match live.
The remaining matches of the series will take place on July 28 and 31 at the same venue.
Tamim Iqbal, the left-arm opening batsman, is leading the Tigers in this series in the absence of regular captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza who has been ruled out due to a hamstring injury.
“This series is very important for us, and we have to start it well from the very first ball of the game whether we bat or bowl as I always say. We have to win the series. If you ask their captain, he’ll say the same thing. And to win the series, we have to do the small things right, and that starts from the first ball of the game,” Tamim told the media on Thursday.
Along with Mashrafe, Bangladesh will miss the service of Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das well as they are on leave due to personal reasons. However, Tamim believes their absence will not make any impact on the performance of the team. Tamim is happy with the performance of Mohammad Mithun who hit 91 off 100 at number three in the practice match in the absence of Shakib.
“It was nice to see him bat like that in the warm-up game. He actually did well for Bangladesh batting at number five. Our regular number three (Shakib) is not here. So, he took the opportunity with both hands. He missed a ton in the practice game but it was really nice to see him bat like that. He took the responsibility. I hope he’ll replicate the same performance tomorrow (Friday), too,” Tamim said while praising Mithun.
Bangladesh played 45 ODIs against the islanders till the date and won seven of them while lost 36, and two of them ended with no-result. Bangladesh played six matches against Sri Lanka at R Premadasa and lost all of them. However, Bangladesh are not looking to the previous stats as Tamim said they are thinking of just winning the series. He also said they are not poking their nose to other things before the series.
“It’ll be good if we keep the talks about the new coach and Malinga’s retirement off the field. I’m sure that when they (Sri Lanka) take to the field, they won’t think about these. They’ll just try to beat us, and we’re also up for the same. I don’t think it’ll make any influence in the game. We are not thinking much about these. As I said earlier, we’re just focusing on our game as we’re here to win the series,” Tamim said when asked about the new coach and the retirement of Lasith Malinga.
With the first match of the series, Tamim will be Bangladesh's newest ODI captain. He led the Tigers in a Test before but he was never captain in an ODI.
“To be honest, I am not thinking this way that it is going to my debut as the captain in ODIs. But yes, I’m feeling good. However, the important thing is to start the game well. As a captain, this is the most important thing. How good a captain depends on the performance of the team. I’m looking forward to perform my duty as good as possible,” Tamim further said.
Probable playing XI of Bangladesh in the first match: Tamim Iqbal (captain), Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Rubel Hossain.