Najmul Hossain Shanto will have the opportunity to seal a first-ever series win as the Bangladesh captain when the Tigers take on Sri Lanka in the second of the three-match ODI series at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram today.

The match will begin at 2:30pm (Bangladesh Standard Time) and will be telecast live on T Sports.

Thanks to a career-best score from skipper Shanto, Bangladesh cruised to a six-wicket win in the first ODI despite starting both the bowling and batting innings on the wrong foot. Shanto's unbeaten 129-ball 122 -- the left-handed batter's maiden century as captain and third overall -- is now the best-ever score by a Bangladesh skipper in the format.

Shanto had an excellent time with the willow last year in ODIs -- bar the 2023 World Cup in which the 25-year-old failed to impress during a shambolic campaign by the Tigers. Playing 27 ODIs, the left-handed batter scored a total of 992 runs at a healthy 41.33 average. Also, he scored all eight of his ODI fifties, and both of his centuries -- till he scored the third one last Tuesday -- in the previous year.

During an interim period as the skipper of Bangladesh towards the end of 2023, Shanto led the Tigers to a few landmark wins as well -- maiden ODI and T20I wins over New Zealand in the Kiwis' backyard in December.     

However, with Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) deciding to put Shanto in charge in all three formats at the beginning of this year, the expectations from the 25-year-old have only compounded.

As things stand, Shanto managed to start on a positive note despite a 2-1 loss to the Lankans in the prior T20I series. And surely, fans, the management, and Shanto himself will only want to continue his purple patch with the bat all the while helping Bangladesh scale new heights in a year filled with important assignments, including the T20 World Cup in June.