Sri Lanka face do-or-die situation vs Bangladesh

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene hopes Bangladesh's bowlers will pose fewer problems to his batsmen than Pakistan did in winning Monday's Twenty20 World Cup Super Eights match.

Sri Lanka, beaten by Pakistan by 33 runs, play Bangladesh in Johannesburg on Tuesday in a match they need to win to keep their semi-final hopes alive and regain the momentum they had in the group stage.

"Pakistan is always a good side, they have some brilliant individuals. But the Pakistan bowling is altogether different to Bangladesh's, it is very skilled," Jayawardene told reporters.

"Bangladesh's bowling is not of the same standard but any attack can be menacing if you don't do the basics right."

Sri Lanka lost three wickets in the first five overs on Monday but Jayawardene said his team could still have won.

"Even though we lost those early wickets we managed to get up to the required run-rate quite quickly but Shahid Afridi bowled very well and he took wickets in the middle," he said. Afridi took three for 18.

The

match against Bangladesh will, like Monday's game against Pakistan, be played under floodlights. Jayawardene, who won the toss and elected to bowl first on Monday, said he would probably make the same choice if he won the toss on Tuesday.

"We thought with the dew factor that it would be quite easy to chase because it would be hard for the spinners to grip the ball. I still think we would like to chase against Bangladesh," he said.

Pakistan recovered from 33 for three thanks to half-centuries from Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik.

"When we had such a good start to the match we should have limited them to 160/170. But Younis and Shoaib batted really well in the middle overs. We tried to take wickets but we just couldn't do it," Jayawardene said.

"It is a crucial game tomorrow. In Twenty20 cricket, if you make a couple of mistakes it is really difficult to come back."

Pakistan play Australia in the first match of a double-header in Johannesburg on Tuesday, with the winners almost certain of a place in the semi-finals.