India face spirited BD in Asia Cup final today

DUBAI: Bangladesh’s life in the Asia Cup 2018 has been about pain, and about largely finding routes for overcoming most of it.

On the opening day, Tamim Iqbal was lost to a wrist fracture, and by the time they made it to the final Super Four game with still something to play for, Shakib Al Hasan couldn’t play on any further due to his fractured finger.

That’s left Mushfiqur Rahim - a member of Bangladesh’s most important batting trio - to do a lot all by himself. Bangladesh Cricket Board’s decision to circumvent the captain of the side Mashrafe Mortaza and bring in top-order reinforcements in Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar has worked in odd ways. Kayes has done well by adapting to his middle-order role and played the innings that kept Bangladesh alive.

Sarkar’s failure to bat well against Pakistan still raises question marks regarding his inclusion, but he bowled five crucial overs, and will remain crucial through his bit-part role in the absence of Shakib.

India’s campaign reeks of an absolute contrast. They’ve strolled past oppositions and have put on display the gulf in quality between them and the rest. Even in the face of an injury - to Hardik Pandya - the replacements have fit right in, and even tormented Bangladesh in their previous meeting in Super Four. Such has been the dearth of challenge that they’ve had to bench five first-team players, including both openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, in order to ensure rest of the players get some game time before the final. Conventional wisdom suggests India are overwhelming favourites to claim the trophy, but the same wisdom also reckoned Bangladesh weren’t first-choice to be playing as the opposition on Friday. Mashrafe Mortaza & Co. have done well to pour cold water over the biggest anticipation - shared perhaps, even by the broadcasters - of a third India-Pakistan final. Who is to say then that they don’t have more surprising and shocking to do?

A full house, given the level of support India and Bangladesh get in Dubai. Four out of six result matches in the tournament here have witnessed wins for the side batting second, so expect the toss to play an important role again.

All the seniors who sat out of their exhilarating tie against Afghanistan will return. That means KL Rahul, who batted superbly against Afghanistan, will also have to make way.The opening pair is unconvincing but Bangladesh have to play Soumya Sarkar for his contributions with the ball as Shakib Al Hasan isn’t available. Bangladesh should field the same XI that beat Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.

Squads: India (Probables): Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah.

Bangladesh (Probables): Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmadullah, Imrul Kayes, Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hasan.