Daijiworld Media Network

Dhaka, Mar 2 : Hello and welcome to another evening of the Asia Cup. In what is bound to be a fascinating contest between the hosts Bangladesh and Pakistan, where the stakes will be sky-high. Batsmen have struggled to find their feet throughout the tournament. Even the ones who did, showed that one needs to bide time at the crease, see off the threat in the powerplay before playing the shots. That has been the batting formula that has worked so far.

The stage is nicely set up for Bangladesh.They will be desperate for a win and will know that a victory here would catapult them into the final. The Tigers are dealing with a huge blow, with Mustafizur Rahman, their best bowler, out of the Asia Cup due to an injury. However, they will be bolstered by the return of Tamim Iqbal to the squad, considering the home team have struggled at the top of the batting order. Sabbir Rahman's fantastic run of form has papered over cracks in the middle order. Shakib Al Hasan has been struggling to put bat on ball in recent times and this is costing the team. The likes of Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim need to settle in before they play their shots.You can bet your bottom dollar that the crowd will turn up in huge numbers to belt out their encouragement for the home side.

Pakistan have won the toss and have opted to bat

Mashrafe Mortaza: "We would have liked to bat but we cannot do anything about toss. Two changes today, Tamim Iqbal comes back in place of Nurul Hasan. Mustafizur is out, Arafat Sunny comes in."

Shahid Afridi: "We will bat. It looks like a better track. Obviously, it is an important game for us. We know where we are standing in the competition. We all are positive and it is a good sign for me. Anwar Ali comes in place of Mohammad Nawaz."

Teams:

Bangladesh (Playing XI): Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Mithun, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mahmudullah, Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny, Al-Amin Hossain

Pakistan (Playing XI): Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Khurram Manzoor, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed(w), Shahid Afridi(c), Anwar Ali, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Irfan

Pitch report: "There is no grass on the pitch. The grass has been cut right back down. The pitch will suit the batsmen, a score of 160 or above will be a reasonable total," reckons Dean Jones.

While Bangladesh have plenty to work on in their batting, the same can be said of Pakistan as well. Against UAE, Pakistan were on 17/3, after losing their top three, before Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik paddled them back to safer shores with sensible batting. Mohammad Amir has been in tremendous form in the Asia Cup so far. His fiery spell against India in their first match ensured that Pakistan made a match of a small total. Amir bowled exceptionally well in the match against UAE too. Mohammad Hafeez needs to play with authority and if he gets going, half the pressure will be released right away. Afridi was insipid with his captaincy against UAE with regard to his bowling changes and his field placements. Pakistan need a victory to keep their final hopes against India alive, and if they end up beating Bangladesh, it will all come down to the final league stage match between the Afridi-led side and Sri Lanka.