Bangladesh will be keen to showcase their improvement in the longer version format when they take on Sri Lanka in the two-match Test series opener at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium today.

 The match is scheduled to start at 10:00am (BST) and will be telecast live on T Sport.

The series is part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle and the hosts are looking to make the most of their own territory where they beat both Afghanistan and Ireland in the Test series while they also held New Zealand to a 1-1 draw in a series last year.

Although Bangladesh didn’t have a good Test record against Sri Lanka as they lost 18 out of 24 Tests and only one match, head coach Chandika Hathurusingha had high expectations from the upcoming series.

“We have high expectations from Test cricket in this cycle. We have already played a home series against New Zealand. If we can win most matches on home soil, we give ourselves a good chance to be in contention in the World Test Championships’ latter stages,” Hathurusingha told reporters in Sylhet on Thursday.

“Some of the series coming up will be played away. They are against higher-ranked teams so quite challenging. Sri Lanka are a formidable, very experienced side. This Test series gives us a good challenge but we are up for it,” he added.

 Bangladesh will miss the experience of Mushfiqur Rahim in the Test series as he sustained a finger injury and the team management is likely to include uncapped Tawhid Hridoy in the playing XI.

Along with that, the think-tank is also mulling the idea of introducing any of the uncapped pacers Mushfik Hasan and Nahid Rana, who is touted as the fastest bowler in the country, to the playing XI.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan skipper Dhananjaya de Silva said that they are eyeing a series win against the hosts and they are taking confidence from their recent success against Afghanistan in the longer format cricket.

“The target is to win the Test series. It’s not about the condition. It’s about the way you play and we also won a Test series in Sri Lanka against Afghanistan and we will have a good match,” Dhananjaya told reporters ahead of the game.