Asia Cup : India Begin Campaign Against Bangladesh Amidst Concerns Over Dhoni’s Fitness

MS Dhoni
Dhoni’ s availability in Asia Cup opener against Bangladesh in doubts . Image Source : Xtra Time

Mirpur : India begin their Asia Cup campaign tomorrow amidst injury concerns over captain MS Dhoni . The Indian captain has suffered a muscle spasm during the team’s training session on Monday, prompting the BCCI to rush Parthiv Patel as his back-up. There is a cloud of uncertainty hanging over Dhoni’s availability against the hosts tomorrow at the Sher e Bangla stadium in Mirpur .

Indian vice-captain Kohli did not clarify on whether Dhoni will sit out of tomorrow’s match.

“With Parthiv coming in, we will have to sit down and see if that situation comes where he has to play. We will then have to sort out a combination, the best possible for the team in terms of the batting order but, as of now, we cannot.Unless we have a decision we cannot sit down and make a concrete plan.”

The continental championship will be played in a Twenty20 format from the usual ODI keeping the World T20 in mind and the need for the Asian teams to get some much-needed match time before the marquee event starts next month. For India, who are considered as title contenders, a good Asia Cup performance will give them the much-needed boost going into the World T20.
India will look to avenge the ODI series loss , the last time both sides played against each other in Dhaka .
The men in blue were surprised by a  a spirited Bangladesh side that beat them fair and square in a three-ODI series at the same venue last year under hostile circumstances with a partisan crowd backing its team.
This was against the backdrop of the controversial Rohit Sharma decision during the quarter-final of the 50-over World Cup in Melbourne.
The ODI series last year saw the emergence of left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahaman, who bamboozled the Indian batsmen with his variations. This tournament will also give ‘Men in Blue’ an opportunity to crack the ‘Mustafizur Code’, having failed miserably the last time round.
The Indians have started their T20 preparations in right earnest having won back-to-back series against Australia ‘Down Under’ and Sri Lanka at home.
In the six T20 internationals played this year, India have won five of them with the only defeat coming against Sri Lanka on an unusual Pune pitch in the last series.