'Even Bangladesh Can Surprise'

India may be tipped to win the Asia Cup title but coach John Wright cautioned his wards notto take any of the rival teams lightly, saying even Bangladesh were capable of springing a surprise.

Wright also said it was important to start the new season on a winning note and concentrate on one game at a time.

"The real challenge will be to start well commencing from the Asia Cup. It is not going to be that easy. The first matchis against UAE, some people might think that the teams are not on even competition, but it is important for us since wewill be playing Sri Lanka in the next match," Wright told reporters before the team's departure for Sri Lanka forthe six-nation tournament.

"We will concentrate on one game at a time and our game plans should go well with the performance and hopefully, thewins will happen. We have played against good opposition in the recent past. The one-day series against Pakistan ended3-2 in our favour," he said.

The former New Zealand captain said the team had put in a lot of hard work to win the historic series in Pakistan inMarch-April and predicted that Sri Lanka would be a tough opposition on home soil.

"Lot of hard work had gone in for that series win and Sri Lanka has been tough at home.Bangladesh can surprise any one of these teams and must have prepared well for thistournament. But the confidence really comes out of performance and that is what we have to stress on. It is a challenge forus," he said.

"The attitude and confidence are pretty high in the minds of my players to win the Cup. There is a lot of differencebetween the expectations of the six sides for the tournament. We have been tothe World Cup, the ICC Champions Trophy and other tournaments and the coming Asia Cup is no different," Wrightsaid.

My players are feeling that they are capable of winning it. We are starting the season after two useful and valuablecamps and the team has been prepared to face high standard opposition. When we go for any tournament, we go with apositive mind," he said.

Asked whether the pressure of playing Pakistan would be less after beating them at home recently, Wright said,"Both the teams want to win badly. We probably have an edge over Pakistan but that can change very quickly in one-day games. Weare looking forward to perform well to win each game and the trophy."

PTI