 The second game of the Asia Cup will see India take on Bangladesh at Dambulla.
This is the tenth edition of the Asia Cup and the Lankans have won the tournament
four times, while the Indians have won it four times as well. On the other hand,
Bangladesh's performance in this tournament has been abysmal and they have never
entered the final of the same.
Click for Live Score Card of Bangladesh Vs India
Bangladesh will go into the tournament, knowing that they have the fire-power
to upset a few of the big names. Unfortunately, their problem this year has
been that while they have played well enough, they have not been at their best
throughout the games. Against England, in the Test matches especially, they
have won some sessions, but have not been able to do so over a sustained period
of time.
Even in the recently concluded tri-series with India as the other team,
their performance did not challenge the oppositions too much, and the side needs
to bat much better than they have been to be able to beat one of these big guys.
Tamim Iqbal has been the lone warrior who has continued to play well and that
has meant that the side has managed to do well at the top of the order. This
was not something they did well earlier, but Iqbal's arrival has changed that.
What has not changed though, is their ability to collapse real hard once Iqbal
has left, and that will probably need to change in this tournament.
India knows that the time is high that they perform much better than they have
in the past two or three months. They crashed out of the Super Eights of the
World T20, and that was followed by the second string side capitulating to a
next-to-nothing total against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.
The Indians will be bolstered by the presence of Virender Sehwag and
Gautam Gambhir at the top of the innings, while the likes of Suresh Raina, Virat
Kohli and MS Dhoni will all be there down the order. Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar will obviously be missed but that does not mean that the Indian
batting is weak, in fact, it continues to remain the strongest of all the four
teams.
It is the bowling that will need to change things around for itself. Zaheer
will need all the support possible from Ashish Nehra and the spinners.
India will be obvious favourites, but will know that they had lost their first
game of another, equally important World Cup game three years back against the
same team!
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