Pakistan face Sri Lanka in what seems to be a fascinating opener of the Bangabandhu National Stadium at 4: 00 pm on Friday. Both the teams are eager to make their marks of their recent improvements with a fine display promised a fierce competitive atmosphere in the field.

George Kottan , the Austrian coach of Pakistan, knows the atmosphere well as he was the former coach of Bangladesh and won the title in 2003. Sri Lankan coach Sampath Perera is also well aware of the conditions and his team is no stranger to the Bangladesh conditions.

“We are here to win the title and take every match seriously, the first match is very important to the build up of the tournament and we have the firepower to be the best in the tournament, we want start with a win,” said Kottan.

Kottan will be hoping that his five England based players Amjad Iqbal, Atif Bashir, Adnan Farooq, Shabir Khan, Reis Ashraf will flourish in their first mission to uplift the team morale.

Sampath Perera on the other hand was looking to put in the experience of his players who are playing together for a couple of years. “The players are eager to show their potential and  Sri Lanka is  focussed to win the title, we are ready to answer the fire with fire,” said Perera.

Chatura Maduranga the skipper and his long time attacking partner Kasuna Jayasurriya will lead the Sri Lankan onslaught.