India ready to pounce on Tigers

Bangladesh will look to take advantage of a trouble-ridden Indian side when they face the former Asian champions in the second match of the Asia Cup today. Bangladesh come into the tournament having played a two-Test series against England, remaining win-less against them but with hints of something more to come. Tamim Iqbal already looked warmed up for the One-Day format , making 268 runs off 278 deliveries in the two Tests and Shakib Al Hasan returned with impressive stats as well.

Their record in the Asia Cup is dismal, having lost all 24 One Day Internationals, but face an Indian side without star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who opted to rest ahead of the World Cup.

Meanwhile, India are already looking forward to the World Cup in 2011, with their captain MS Dhoni saying that the Asia Cup is the right time to start looking at the possible composition of the team. One other highlight of the Indian squad is the axing of Yuvraj Singh, whose pale performances were just enough to draw the selectors’ ire. Bowlers will be key again and the Dambulla wicket - unlike other pitches in Sri Lanka - is not a batsman’s dream. The wicket has the lowest batting average of 22.4 runs of all the wickets in Sri Lanka and has only seen three centuries in a total 29 matches played there. That is a fact that MS Dhoni is well aware of.

“Conditions will be a bit different. Dambulla is not one of the high-scoring venues, it will be important to keep that at the back of the head,” said Dhoni before the team’s departure.

Considering India won the last tournament back in 1994, they will not want Bangladesh to win their first Asia Cup match against them.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2010.