Sri Lanka won't take Bangladesh lightly

Six teams have already made it to the main stage of the Champions Trophy, and over the next one week, six qualifying matches will decide which two teams out of Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe will join those six in the quarter-final stage.

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh face off at Mohali today to set the tournament rolling, and while Sri Lanka will start as overwhelming favourites - not only to win this match, but also to qualify and cause some further damage in the main tournament - Habibul Bashar and his troops will believe they have a chance of pulling off an upset and getting this tournament off to a sensational start.

Bangladesh have only won one out of 17 ODIs against Sri Lanka, but that win came very recently - in February this year at Bogra - and having tasted success once, they will want to prove that wasn't a flash in the pan. The first match is also perhaps the best time for the underdog to catch the favourites by surprise.

Going by Mahela Jayawardene's and Tom Moody's comments, though, it's unlikely that the Sri Lankans will take Bangladesh lightly. That Bogra defeat will still be fresh - they've only played Bangladesh once since - but more importantly, they'll have the services of three champion players who weren't around for that game: Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Marvan Atapattu are all back in the line-up. Atapattu hasn't played an ODI since March 2006, and his return will be huge boost to the top order. Sri Lanka have also been in excellent form in ODIs of late, winning nine of their last 15 ODIs, including a clean sweep against England, and they'll be keen to wipe out unpleasant memories of the 6-1 drubbing at the hands of India last year.

Teams usually prefer to bat first after winning the toss in day-night games, but the dew factor at Mohali might make it difficult for the bowlers later in the evening. Daljit Singh, the curator, has promised a pitch with pace and carry: "There is a lot of grass on the pitch though dry and not green," he was quoted as telling The Times of India. "The ball will carry through to the batsmen and seamer will be able to extract height, though it might be tough for the spinners as the ball may skid."

Bangladesh
Aftab Ahmed, Rajin Saleh, Shahriar Nafees, Habibul Bashar (capt), Mohammad Ashraful, Abdur Razzak, Farhad Reza, Khaled Mashud (wk), Mashrafe Mortaza, Mehrab Hossain jnr, Mohammad Rafique, Saqibul Hasan Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel.

Sri Lanka
Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Malinga Bandara, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ruchira Perera.