Captain Mohammad Ashraful slammed an unbeaten hundred and young Mushfiqur Rahim his maiden half century in the second game but in the end it proved just individual successes. To avoid further embarrassment, the top order has to put on more effort.

The Bangladesh think-tank made two changes from the last game as left-hander Mehrab Hossain was dropped after playing only his maiden Test to make way for Tushar Imran. Left-arm paceman Syed Rasel joins the team in the place of under-performing Mohammad Sharif.

This is the first time Bangladesh, who have faced the islanders nine times so far, are going to play at Asgiriya Stadium, which offers assistance to seam bowlers and is the home ground of champion off-spinner Muttiah Muralidaran and ace batsman Kumar Sangakkara.

The match will start at 11am Bangladesh time with TEN Sports beaming live coverage from the world heritage city famous for surrounding hills and tea gardens.

The venue, though, is not lucky for the Lankans who have lost nine and won five out of 19 games played here in the past.

But the statistics can hardly be encouraging for the Tigers, who suffered an innings and 234-run defeat in the first game at SSC, the biggest margin of defeat against the hosts, before being crushed at P Sara by an innings and 90 runs inside three days.

The whole team have been focusing on one issue since: how they can improve their first innings performance after being bundled out for 89 and 62 -- Bangladesh's lowest total ever -- in the first essays of the two Tests in the Lankan capital.

Bangladesh flew in experienced middle-order batsman Tushar, who has played just four Tests in his five-year international career and has only 55 runs in eight innings, to find out a solution as most of the top batsmen including former skipper Habibul Bashar and opener Shahriar Nafees are completely out of form.

Bashar, who has scored 36 runs in four innings, and Nafees, who made 93 in four innings, must wake up to keep their places in the one-day side.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will announce their team this morning with one change confirmed as left-arm paceman Chaminda Vaas went back to England to resume county cricket after the second Test. Having missed the first two Tests, injured opener Upul Tharanga has returned.

TEAMS
BANGLADESH: Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (vice-captain), Javed Omar, Shahriar Nafees, Habibul Bashar, Rajin Saleh, Tushar Imran, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Rafique, Shahadat Hossain and Syed Rasel.

SRI LANKA (from): Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara (vice-captain), Malinda Warnapura, Michael Vandort, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Silva, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardene, Farveez Mahroof, Muttiah Muralidaran, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Sujeewa Silva.