We have to give more than 100 percent effort to win against Sri Lanka: Tamim

Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal urged his team to give more than 100 percent effort as they seek to maintain their good home record against Sri Lanka in the ODI series starting on Sunday.

Tigers have enjoyed a fine run of form at home soil last couple of years in ODI. They continued stellar ODI performance against the main opponent at home.

They started the year 2021 with a bang with a 3-0 sweep over West Indies, their fifth win in six bilateral ODI series at home.

But the concern is they remained winless in their last 10 international games - four Tests, three ODIs, and three T20Is. Even they delivered an abysmal performance with their batting, bowling, their fielding over the last four months.

Tigers were handed a 3-0 humiliation by Sri Lanka when they met in a one-day international series in Colombo in 2019.

"We have played with most of the Sri Lanka players. We know that they are a quality side," Tamim said at a virtual press conference on Friday.

"We won't have anything easy, and we have to give more than 100 percent to win games against them." He added.

However, the Bangladesh ODI squad will be boosted by the return of ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan. Tigers' radical ODI transformation was largely thanks to Shakib's tremendous all-rounder performance.

Bangladesh's top all-rounder earlier missed their last ODI series against New Zealand for the birth of his third child. Shakib was also absent from the Test tour of Sri Lanka in April as he was playing in the lucrative Indian Premier League.

Tamim said that Shakib would bat in his favorite batting position at number three against Sri Lanka after the selector snubbed Najmul Hossain Shanto from the ODI squad.

"Shakib will bat at number three. There will be expectations, but we also have to remember what Shakib did at the World Cup, scoring 600-plus runs in nine matches that is not always possible," said Tamim.

"I would love for him to bat like that every day, but it is a very rare performance. If it doesn't happen, there shouldn't be anything to worry about. I won't panic in that case." Tamim added.