Mahela Jayawardena was Sri Lanka's consultant in ICC T20 WC 2021 (PC: Twitter)
Ahead of the do-or-die match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the Asia Cup 2022 today, things have heated up on the verbal front. A win tonight at Dubai would ensure a spot in the Super 4 stage, where Afghanistan and India have already qualified.
Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena has also joined in the verbal banter, which has surely spiced things up for fans lately. Jayawardena was responding to a remark made by Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud regarding the lack of bowlers in the Sri Lankan side.
Jayawardena, who was Sri Lanka's consultant during the ICC T20 World Cup last year tweeted,
"Looks like it’s time for @OfficialSLC bowlers to show the class and batters to show who they are on the field..😉👍#AsiaCup2022"
Timeline of the verbal banter
Dasun Shanaka, after suffering a loss against Afghanistan in the tournament opener, called Sri Lanka "easy opponents" and described them as lacking a quality bowling attack, which relied only on Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman.
Mahmud did not back down and hit back by saying that at least the Bangla Tigers had quality but Sri Lankans had none.
Last night, the spinning coach for Sri Lanka, Piyal Wijetunge, also lashed out at Mahmud, saying that he was unaware of such a statement.
In the field, however, both teams have failed to show any spark, losing their respective matches to Afghanistan quite handsomely.
Also Read: Won't be surprised if Afghanistan knocks out India, Pakistan, says Ajay Jadeja
 "Vishal Mehra")
