During the team’s training session on Sunday, Dhoni suffered a muscle spasm, which forced the BCCI to call Parthiv Patel as his back-up.Though Indian team is looking in good form, first encounter against Bangladesh is a tricky one as the Tigers have built a reputation of being giant-slayers especially in front of the home crowd.With two back-to-back T20I series wins, a spirited India enter the last phase of their preparations for next month's ICC World Twenty20 with the Asia Cup opener against hosts Bangladesh at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.
Though India look a force to reckon with, the only concern that the Men in Blue face is with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who skipped practice on Monday due to a muscle spasm. The BCCI sprung into action at once and flew in Parthiv Patel as backup.Bangladesh have a mix of experience and youth with veterans Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim still going strong.
India will be wary of the fact that Bangladesh have match winners in their side and as Dhoni mentioned they would be keen on negating the threat from the ‘big-hitters.’But with the unpredictability of the format Bangladesh would be hoping to pull off a surprise in front of their vociferous home fans.In Wednesday's clash, both the teams will look to start their Asia Cup campaign on a winning note.Revenge would certainly be on the minds of MS Dhoni & Co as they were beaten by Bangladesh in a three-ODI series at the same venue last year.Indian batsmen will also look to crack the code to play left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahaman, who hurt India badly last time.
