Daijiworld Media Network

Dhaka, Feb 24 : The No. 1 T20I side in the world, India, have everything going their way in the shortest form of the game. They whitewashed Australia in their own den and came from behind to beat Sri Lanka 2-1. This is their last chance to get the permutations and combinations right ahead of the World T20, if at all they haven't already. The only concern for them will be the fitness of skipper MS Dhoni, who is not doing much football practice and is only standing around, says my colleague Ganesh Chandrasekaran.

The Asia Cup is here in an all new avatar. For the first time it is being played in a T20 format. The qualifiers are done and dusted and we saw United Arab Emirates making it to the tournament proper. They pipped Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Oman. Today we have the hosts Bangladesh locking horns with India in the opener.

Weather Update: There is a rain threat to this game. Ganesh who is at ground has the latest news, 'rained heavily around noon, but cleared up rather quickly was gloomy until late evening.' Hope it stays clear and we have a full game.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, have been very inconsistent when it comes T20Is. In a recently concluded series against Zimbabwe, they allowed the African side to come from 2-0 down to level the series. The likely starting XI is yet to be finalized for the World T20 and what better way to get it right than try it out in the Asia Cup. One man they will be looking forward to performing is Mustafizur Rahman, who tormented India with his variations last time when these two sides met.

Preview by Ganesh Chandrasekaran

The Asia Cup is one of the lesser fancied tournaments in terms of public imagination. Amongst the many multilateral series being played in international cricket, this is one tournament that has struggled to find its own niche. Tournaments like the World Cup, World T20 and the ICC Champions Trophy all hold its own place in the public memory mainly because of the relevance of the prefix of ICC before it. The Asia Cup however struggles to capture that fascination mainly because of the anonymity of the Asian Cricket Council. However, the tournament is now going to act as a percussor for the World T20 and will be played in the same format unlike previous editions.

Given that it features the top nations from the sub-continent, it cannot but act as a perfect build-up to the premier event that begins barely a day after the final of this tournament. That adds an extra edge to the significance of the 2016 edition in Bangladesh.

Much of the questions to the captains in the pre-match press conference surrounded Mustafizur Rehman and his exploits against the Indians last year in the ODI series. That series win catapulted Bangladesh's growing prominence in the fifty-over format. The off-field drama surrounding the then ICC chairman and president (N Srinivasan and Mustafa Kamal) during the WC 2015 also fuelled a rivalry that is in its infancy.

India and Bangladesh cannot be placed on level terms based on cricketing skills alone but the frenzied nature of the T20 format quells a lot of the imbalance. Bangladesh's rise in the fifty-over format cannot be directly correlated to an increase in stature in T20Is. They drew a series against Zimbabwe at home recently and will need to raise their game in T20s just as they have done in the other limited overs format.

The Asia Cup thus presents them with a perfect opportunity to kick-start proceedings. Playing on home turf comes with its own advantages. The vociferous crowd support is a given and the know-how of conditions is a crucial factor as well. They are no longer considered 'minnows' in the international arena and India will still remember being stung in ODIs by the same opposition. For the hosts, this acts as a perfect setting to gather some momentum going into the World T20. The same holds good for other teams as well but for Bangladesh, the significance of a victory against India in the opener, in front of their home crowd, might be a bigger shot in the arm.

For India, having arrived upon a settled T20 squad is a boon but they will be focussing on sustaining the momentum gained by winning back-to-back T20I series wins. They will be focussing on striking a balance between winning games and providing opportunities for all their members of the T20 squad.

They might already be forced to make one injury enforced change if MS Dhoni doesn't pass fit on the day of the game. The skipper has been suffering from back spasms and Parthiv Patel might end up donning the gloves without yet attending a practice session in Dhaka. If it comes down to that then India will also be forced to tinker their batting order as Patel is a batsman who finds the top-order more suited to his style. The rest of the batting order picks itself but one concern for India might be the lack of batting game-time for Yuvraj Singh. A promotion in the batting order might be on the cards at some point during the tournament if Singh does not get enough chances naturally.

The bowling unit is a far more settled one with Jasprit Bumrah's performances filling in for a gaping void while Ashish Nehra, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja know their specific roles in the format.

The hosts on the other hand will try experimenting a little more before they arrive upon their final eleven ahead of the World T20. The absence of Tamim Iqbal does leave a hole at the top of the order, but Imrul Kayes is expected to make up for it with his experience. They could also plump for a rookie in Mohammad Mithun to take up the top-order slot while the slot for a third pacer might be a shoot-out between Al-Amin Hossain and Taskin Ahmed. There will be a lot of focus on how Mustafizur performs in his second season after catching many a big name by surprise when he first came on.

India were found out recently on a pacy pitch at Pune and if Mirpur offers something similar to the one offered to the India U19 team in the World Cup final recently, then it could offer them more than a slight challenge. But as the qualifier games showed, this pitch may not have as much life on it.

Teams:

India (From): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli(c), Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Parthiv Patel(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Ajinkya Rahane, Harbhajan Singh, Pawan Negi, MS Dhoni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Bangladesh (From): Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Hider, Mohammad Mithun, Nurul Hasan, Taskin Ahmed