A needle contest in the offing, as Lanka faces Bangladesh

Port of Spain, Mar 20 (UNI) Former Champion Sri Lanka takes on Bangladesh tomorrow in a do or die Group 'B' encounter in the Cricket World cup here.

A nerve wrecking contest is in the offing as a defeat tomorrow will slim Sri lanka's chances of making it to the Super Eight as they have to fight it out with India in their last group match.

Both teams have everything to play for. For Bangladesh who have tasted blood after scalping India, a win will land them straight in the Super Eight stage as they will thereafter only have group punching bags Bermuda to contend.

The game plan for Tigers' skipper Habibul Bashar is very cut out. He wants a win so that he does not have to depend on net run rate calculations (NRR) to progress to the Super Right stage.

''Sri Lanka are a more organised side than India. That is why we will have to play even better than we did in the first game,'' Bashar told media persons.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has been alerted about Bangladesh's capabilities, after Saturday's shock defeat of India and will correspondingly be more prepared than the Indians, who were caught napping by the likes of Tamim Iqbal and Mashrafe Mortaza.

However Bashar is confident of his team's chances. ''We have come together well as a unit and the team for the rest of this tournament has already taken shape. We have the right players in the right slots and are confident of giving the Lankans a good fight. Also we would like to qualify for the Super Eights as quickly as possible and not leave it to the NRR calculations.'' Tending not to take any opposition lightly, he also admitted that Lankans are a far more formidable bowling attack than India with likes of Lasith Malinga, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan, who are certain to test the Tigers' batting much more than Zaheer Khan and Co managed to do on Saturday.

Sri Lanka too will cement their position considerably if they get the better of the Tigers ahead of the crucial group match against India on Friday.

Teams:(from) Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara (vc and wk), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Marvan Atapattu, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Russel Arnold, Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Kulasekara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara.

Bangladesh: Habibul Bashar (capt), Shahriar Nafees (vc), Abdur Razzak, Aftab Ahmed, Javed Omar, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Ashraful, Mohammad Rafique, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Rajin Saleh, Saqibul Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Tamim Iqbal, Tapash Baisya.

Umpires: Daryl Harpar, Steve Davis. 3rd umpire: Ian Howell.

4th umpire: Aleem Dar. Match referee: Jeff Crowe.

UNI