Asia Cup 2018: India Take On Bangladesh In 1st Super Four Match

After an engrossing group stage, the 2018 Asia Cup enters its decisive phase with defending champions India taking on Bangladesh in the first Super Four match at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Friday.

The fixture has managed to earn the attention of global cricket fans following recent close encounters. And the Friday's encounter will only increase its profile. It will never reach the level of India-Pakistan rivalry but has all the makings of becoming one of the fiercest.

Indeed, it has been a bitter one post the controversial 2015 World Cup quarterfinal at Melbourne. Bangladesh are now one of the big boys at least in ODI, a format they have mastered after a formidable run at home besides reaching the Asia Cup final in 2012. 

Both the sides blew hot and cold during the group stage. India did win both the matches but were forced to dig deep against an unheralded Hong Kong side. The nervy 26-run win over the Associate team, however, prepped up the six-time champions for the Pakistan encounter. India produced one of their best performances in recent times to thrash Pakistan by eight wickets to enter Super Four as one of the to unbeaten sides.

Bangladesh started their campaign with a 137-run win over five-time champions Sri Lanka but endured a shocking 136-run defeat against upstarts Afghanistan to qualify as the second-best team from the Group B.

India are on a nine-match winning run against Bangladesh – one Test, two ODIs and six T20Is. And the Rohit Sharma-led side will hope to continue that momentum.

But the Men in Blue will be wary of the fact that Bangladesh can are no more the so-called minnows. In fact, India have survived few close calls in previous few meetings.

The main concern for the Indian camp, however, will be the team combination following Hardik Pandya's withdrawal after picking up a freak injury during the inconsequential Group A match against Pakistan. The pull-outs of Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur will also compound India's injury woes.

Another area of concern is Mahendra Singh Dhoni's batting form. The legend hasn't been firing and it will be interesting if Rohit promotes him in the batting order to give the veteran time to get settle down.

Manish Pandey can add batting depth and looks a possible addition in the middle-order, while Kedar Jadhav's off breaks are more than handy, and he is expected to take care of Pandya's quota of overs.

Openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were amongst the runs in the first two matches while Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik looked solid against Pakistan.

Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed may come in place of Bhuvneshwar but it is still not clear as to who would be Pandya's replacement. Ravindra Jadeja has come in for Axar while Siddharth Kaul has been flown in as reinforcement for Shardul, the BCCI confirmed on Thursday.

Deepak Chahar is being sent as the replacement player for Pandya but it is unlikely that he will be drafted straightaway into the playing XI.

Under the inspirational Mashrafe Mortaza and seasoned campaigners like Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmydullah Riyadh, the team has the potential to go all the way.

With two quality pacers in Mustafizur Rahaman and Rubel Hossain backed by the experience of Mortaza and Shakib on a slow deck, India could find run-scoring difficult in the middle overs.

The Bangladesh team and its media's perception of India being the proverbial big bully adds a dash of excitement to the contests.

Friday's encounter won't be any different as Bangladesh are forced to play back-to-back matches in Abu Dhabi (vs Afghanistan Thursday) and in Dubai (Friday).

This wasn't the original schedule, but the BCCI had managed to arm-twist the Asian Cricket Council in tweaking it, causing a lot of heartburn.

Overall, the match has more ingredients to become a blockbuster than the one against Pakistan.

In another Super Four match today, Pakistan will take on Afghanistan at Abu Dhabi. Both the matches start at the same time.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik (wk), MS Dhoni (wk), Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar
Bangladesh: Masrafe Bin Mortaza (c), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Mithun, Liton Das (wk), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Ariful Haque, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nazmul Islam Apu, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Haider Rony.

(With PTI inputs)