Sri Lanka began their post-Malinga journey with a convincing seven wicket win over the tourist © Getty

Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne said he was happy to see others stepping up to take the responsibility as they start life without Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara. While Lasith Malinga had a fitting farewell in the opener of the three-match series against Bangladesh, Kulasekara decided to quit during the build-up of the ODI's series.

Sri Lanka began their post-Malinga journey with a convincing seven wicket win over the tourist, and will now be hopeful of completing a series sweep in the final ODI, which the SLC has decided to dedicate to Nuwan Kulasekara.

"Yes, we hope to give him [Kulasekara] a good send-off, but we go into to every game hoping to win. But that said, just because we're looking to win doesn't mean that we shouldn't give some of the younger players a chance," Dimuth told reporters ahead of the third game at Colombo.

"For the first few games of the World Cup everyone was panicking and you know, the World Cup was a huge thing, everyone was really under pressure, that's why some of the players couldn't perform well. But after a couple of games they got back on track, and they played good cricket, scored some hundreds. After that they brought that confidence here, and we can see how well the top six have performed. While the bowlers have also done a good job," he said.

"In the last match without Malinga, I think Nuwan [Pradeep], Lahiru Kumara and all the guys, they bowled really well. That's what we want, once the seniors leave the rest of the guys have to take their responsibility and do the job. I think we were in the right track, we built some confidence step by step," he added.

"Definitely there will be some chances for the youngsters. When the series started I said that we needed to give young players some chances in order to get them properly prepared for the next World Cup. As such, we're going to be looking at how best to include them, while at the same time keeping in place the best combination to win the match. There won't be a lot of changes, but I expect there will be two or three," he said.

Dimuth added that coach Chandika Hathurusingha helped them by giving inputs about Bangladesh as he knows them well considering he was their coach before joining the Sri Lanka set-up.

"He has always done a great job for us. He obviously knows a lot of the Bangladesh players, so when we discuss strategy he of course offers his insight. That has helped, but I think we also played really good cricket in the last few days, that has been the main thing. Anyone can give a plan but we still have to execute it well, so I think did their jobs," he said.

According to Dimuth, Bangladesh suffered because of the absence of Shakib al Hasan, who opted to skip the tournament for personal reasons.

"Not at all[we didn't believe that we will win the series so easily]. If you see how Bangladesh played in the World Cup, they were brilliant," said Dimuth.

"The main thing was Shakib [Al Hasan], he played a huge role. I think that's why we felt that without Shakib they may struggle a little to balance the side. I think we also lifted our game after the World Cup. We have been playing as a team, with high confidence, and I think that's why we have done so well," he said.

"If you take the World Cup Bangladesh did really well because of Shakib and Mushfiqur, those are the two batsmen that carried them through. They batted really well and kept scoring big runs, and the team was, as a result, scoring 250 and 300-plus. Once Shakib isn't there, they have to fill that hole in both the bowling and batting, I can't see anyone who can replace him."