India and Bangladesh are going head to head in the final of Asia Cup today. India is unbeaten in the tournament whereas Bangladesh had a mixed fortune in the tournament. Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka in their first game but were then defeated by Afghanistan in the next game. In the super four stage, they found themselves short against India but got the better of both Afghanistan and Pakistan to make it to the finals. These two teams were also the finalists when Asia Cup was played last time in 2016. That tournament was played in a T20 format. India won that match so Bangladesh would be looking for redemption whereas India would be looking for glory.
In today’s match, Team India starts as overwhelming favourites. India though is missing Virat Kohli who is being rested for the Asia Cup but that has not made any difference to the team’s performance. They were a bit rusty in the opening game of the tournament against Hong Kong where they were unlikely challenged and were given a scare by the newest entrant in the Asia Cup. After that match India were clinical as they brushed aside every opponent that came their way. In their last game against Afghanistan, they played a tie which was a see saw encounter. The Indian top order is in tremendous form with both the openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma making big runs. The bowlers have also rallied behind each other and has not let the opposition get too many runs.
On the Bangladesh side, they will be missing their talisman Shakib Al Hasan due to finger injury. He is the backbone of this team. This is a big blow for Bangladesh as they had already lost their opener Tamim Iqbal due to wrist injury in the first game of the tournament. Both these injuries give Bangladesh side a depleted look and make India huge favourites. On Bangladesh side their keeper Mushfiqur Rahum is in top form and has shouldered the responsibility well in the absence of Tamim and Shakib.
Pitch and conditions
The weather will be the same as it has been through the tournament with a high of 41 degrees to be expected. This is one of the reason for the skipper who wins the toss to bat first. But the stats shows that the team batting second has won more games, so it’s something that the captains will be pondering about.
India (likely): 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 Dinesh Karthik, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Bangladesh (likely): 1 Liton Das 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Mominul Haque, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mohammad Mithun, 6 Imrul Kayes, 7 Mahmudullah, 8 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 9 Mehidy Hasan, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
