Bangladesh Look to Salvage Pride

India vs Bangladesh Asia Cup Finals

The final battle between India and Bangladesh is all set to start at 13:30 GMT (19.30 IST) tonight March 6^th 2016 at Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Pitch and Weather forecast

Dhaka pitch is geared up with grassy surface, favouring swing bowlers. This would have done keeping T20 world cup in mind. Weather report suggests there is little chance showers with cool breeze. Dew could play a huge factor for the team who is chasing.

Team Form

India: The team is in the form of their life finding perfect balance in all the departments winning the entire match so far in this tournament. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are in good touch timing every delivery like a sweet-chin-music. Yuvraj is slowly coming back to his old touch after striking back-to-back sixes off Herath in his last outing. Dhavan and Raina are yet to find their form but trust me, once they are find their form they are unstoppable and would definitely pose a grave threat to the opponents.

Bowling attack seems solid after a long time, bowling tight stick-to-stick lines and picking up wickets at regular intervals. Nehra with his elegant seam action has a tendency to shackle the top order and he has a great company from the other end (Bumra) who with his unorthodox cross arm bowling controls the runrate. Pandya, Ashwin and Jadeja are all in good form both in terms of taking wickets and controlling runs.

Overall team India is on the verge of becoming the best side in the world; by sticking to their basics with good all-round ability.

Bangladesh: The underdogs playing with their stick-to-basic mindset have mauled two big guns (Srilanka & Pakistan) of Asia. They are good both with their bat and ball. Home crowd is a massive advantage for them.

Sabbir Rahman and Soumya Sarkar are in excellent touch. They can rotate strike and also hit boundaries putting the pressure back onto the bowlers. Mahmudullah continues his good form of finishing off things in style even in pressure situations. Sakib and Mushfiqur are priceless hitters for the team playing down the order. They can play massive strokes during slog overs. Openers should find some momentum and stay on crease for at least five overs.

Bowling is where Bangladesh is proving their part in this tournament. Al-amin and Taskin with their terrific swing bowling can be dangerous for any openers at this juncture, home crowd adding to their likes. They have handful number of spin option just like Indians.

Team Bangladesh is very good at field, as everyone is fit and athletic. The team is able to start well in bowling, but for some reason, they are not able to start off in a same manner while in batting. Hence, they need to concentrate more on that and if they come up with a solution, definitely they will come back strongly and can be crowned for that.

Players to watch out for

Virat Kohli: A solid player with text book technique depends very much on his foot work. He is the player to watch out for. He can stay at crease for long time, rotate strikes and can even play big shots.

Sabbir Rahman: He is a calm and composed player who can settle his team at right time. He has a remarkable ability to play some neat strokes throughout the ground. 

Possible Line up

India: MS Dhoni*†, R Ashwin, JJ Bumrah, S Dhawan, RA Jadeja, V Kohli, A Nehra, HH Pandya, SK Raina, RG Sharma, Yuvraj Singh

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza*, Abu Hider, Al-Amin Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim†, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed 

Quotes

"The flavor of this match is going to be different but if we play the way we have been playing in the last three matches, hopefully we will keep our momentum going and get something good in the end." Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza on his side's chances of winning the Asia Cup final

"Last year Sri Lanka were the world champions here [in the Asia Cup and World T20]. Bangladesh has played very good cricket too. Not long ago Pakistan was in the top two. Now it is India. You can never discount teams in the subcontinent." India team director Ravi Shastri on the changing fortunes of sub-continent teams.