Mahanama has been out of favour after being dropped following the tour of South Africa in March. A brief recall for the Nidahas Trophy one-day series in July was followed by omission from the England touring squad, and a brief sojourn examining his technique in Australia. Zoysa has not played for Sri Lanka since breaking down on the South African tour, but has been among the wickets in the BCCSL Under-23 championships in recent weeks. Vaas has also not bowled for his country since the South African tour, his return to fitness coming too late to be of any value in England in August.

The return of the left-arm pace duo of Zoysa and Vaas should bolster Sri Lanka's prospects. Commonwealth Games batting star Avishka Gunawardene has been retained for this series. Suresh Perera is out due to injury.

The full Sri Lankan squad is:

Arjuna Ranatunga (capt), Aravinda De Silva (vc), Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Tillekeratne, Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Mavan Atapattu, Mutiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Avishka Gunawardene, Upul Chandana, Nuwan Soysa, Pramodya Wikramasinghe, Kumara Dharmasena.

The defending World Cup holders are slight pre-tournament favourites for the Bangladesh knockout. They play either New Zealand or Zimbabwe in their opening game on October 26.