Will it be Bangladesh's day at Asia Cup Finals

When Sachin scored his 100^th ton – one of my friends tweeted ‘Thank Indira Gandhi’ – a cryptic comment on the birth of the Nation Bangladesh.  People are very inconsistent !!

You may not know or followed the fortunes of Dhaka Gladiators or for that matter the BPL (Bangladesh Premier League).  DG had Mohammad Ashraful as its icon player and Mashrafe Mortaza captained it to the victory.   The team had star players including batsmen Imran Nazir and Aftab Ahmed, all rounders like Shahid Afridi, Kieron Pollard, Azhar Mahmood, Mashrafe Mortaza, and bowlers of the likes of Saeed Ajmal, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan; the  most expensive player, Shahid Afridi was bought for $700,000.   BPL’s inaugural season commenced on 9 February and ended on 29^th Feb 2012.

Today is a momentous day for Bangladesh as it marks their first entry in the finals of Asia Cup.  Curiously all the woes of Indian team are blamed to IPL, whilst the success of Bangladesh is attributed to BPL ?  How ??

Bangladesh had never had it so rich. In 29 matches thus far in the Cup, their only wins came against Hongkong and UAE.  But this season, they threatened Pakistan in their first match, beat India with that final rush and beat Sri Lanka convincingly.  Bangladesh is also a Nation of passionate spectators and they are looking forward to a golden day at Mirpur – so every run would be cheered and wickets of opponent would bring the stadium thundering down !

They might the feel of having to perform or the pressure of the big match for the first match – but have played the tournament so far in a cavalier way.  For many an Indo-Pak final would have greater fervour but the Nation of Bangladesh would wait with bated breath expecting their team to defeat Pak and win the Cup.   Statistically, Pakistan have not been great in Asia Cup – entering the finals thrice and winning the Cup only once as against the 4 titles of India and Sri Lanka.

Bangla appears to have a nicely settled line-up with Shakib Al Hasan peaking at the right time.   Pakistan against India went in for Wahab Riaz at the cost of regular wicketkeeper and Sarfraz Ahmed might play today.

So it should be a great match, and I am backing Bangladesh to win the title

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.