Daijiworld Media Network
Dhaka, Mar 6 : Before going any further, we have some bad news folks. Ganesh Chandrasekaran pings me with this update: 'It had stopped raining, but all of a sudden there is a bit of a storm. Some of the advertisement boards from the roof have come off and it happened in a flash. The groundsmen struggled to keep the covers on. Very, very heavy wind and water from the covers are being sprayed everywhere.'
18:40 Local Time, 12:40 GMT, 18:10 IST: This is not looking good. 'Claps of thunder and lightning,' says Ganesh. It is pouring down as well. The cut-off time for a 5-over game is 10:45 local time. Just as a fact, if there is no game possible, the trophy will be shared. Fingers crossed though! Let's hope that the weather is kind on us.
18:30 Local Time, 12:30 GMT, 18:00 IST: I would like to make it clear that there is no reserve day for this game. So let's hope that weather clears soon and allows us to witness at least a shortened game.
After testing out a few benchwarmers against the UAE, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Ashish Nehra are expected to be back in the playing XI. Overall, Dhoni would want his boys to carry on the good work. These two sides met in the first game of the tournament, but the hosts would want to leave all memories behind. They got to know the importance of the saying 'Catches win matches,' as Shakib-Al-Hasan's dropped catch of Rohit Sharma hurt them badly. The absence of Mustafizur Rahman is a big blow for them as the youngster has the ability to trouble the batsmen with his bag of tricks.
Meanwhile, after his match-winning unbeaten 49 in Sydney, Raina has not managed to score anything substantial. Can both the left-handers hit form before the mega event back home? The biggest plus for India in this campaign is Yuvraj Singh striking them hard and clean. He's not only timing the ball sweetly, but also scoring runs quickly which makes India close to invincible.
They couldn't have asked for a better build-up to the World T20. Two three-match bilateral series against Australia and Sri Lanka respectively, followed by the Asia Cup and they have won 9 out of the 10 games. So this tells you that form is not a worry for MS Dhoni and company. The side looks pretty settled, with the captain every now and then stressing about the extra all-round options he has in the side to play with. The only concern for them though is the fact that Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina have not been amongst the runs. Dhawan had a couple of good scores behind him before coming to Bangladesh, but the opener has struggled to put bat on ball in the tourney.
Before the start of the tournament, they said Bangladesh were not as good a T20 side as they are in the 50-over format. But here they are in the final of the 2016 Asia Cup, ahead of Sri Lanka and Pakistan. A lot of credit has to go to captain Mashrafe Mortaza, who has managed to get the best out of his players. So here is another chance for Bangladesh's fans. We all know how passionate they are in the stands and I am almost sure that it's going to be another boisterous crowd cheering every run and every fielding effort. However, the hosts would be mindful of the fact that they are up against the tournament favourites India. Life is certainly not going to be easy out there, for the Men in Blue have been playing some exceptional T20 cricket.