Bangladesh eye final revenge against India

Colombo: After all the drama of the virtual semi-final between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on Friday, the hope is that Sunday's final will turn the focus back on to the cricket.

India, all rested and recuperated, await Bangladesh, who saw off Sri Lanka in the penultimate ball of a most thrilling clash.

Despite the extremes of passion that was witnessed on Friday, the cricket remained high-quality, much as it has throughout the tournament.

India’s last outing was on Wednesday. By the time they take the field on Sunday, they’d have had four days of rest.

Furthermore, in their last two outings, they didn’t have to work a sweat, seeing off Sri Lanka first by six wickets and following that up with a 17-run victory over Bangladesh.

There have been photographs going around social media of the Indian players relaxing by the pool, generally using the time off to good effect. They will be refreshed for the finale, and primed to make the most of it.

Bangladesh They have just a day to recover and get back in the mind-frame to prepare for the final.

In general, their matches so far at the Nidahas Trophy have kept them on the field a while – their two clashes against Sri Lanka went down to within the last two deliveries.

A lot, for Bangladesh, depends on how soon they can refocus.

India are again favourites. Their two league matches against Bangladesh proved comfortable outings as they won by six wickets and 17 runs respectively.

Both were all-round performances, and despite Mushfiqur Rahim’s best efforts with an unbeaten 72 in the second meeting, India proved to be too good.

The manner of Bangladesh’s victory on Friday would have invigorated the side, no doubt. They will be hoping to build on that, and hope third time is the charm against India.

Teams from

India: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant (wk), Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Siraj

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (Capt.), Mahmudullah (vc), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Abu Hider, Abu Jayed, Ariful Haque, Nazmul Islam, Nurul Hasan, Mehidy Hasan, Liton Das (wk)

Pitch and conditions
A thunderstorm is forecast in Colombo on Sunday, and the grounds-people at the R Premadasa Stadium -- usually excellent -- will have to be on their toes again.

Stats and trivia

• Bangladesh have lost all their seven T20Is against India, two off two in this series.
• One T20 tournament final between India and Bangladesh till date, in the 2016 Asia Cup at Mirpur; India had won that match comfortably, by 8 wickets
• T20I needed a win for India to go past South Africa, who have 60 wins. Only Pakistan (74) have won more T20Is.
• Four runs needed by Mahmudullah (996) to reach the 1,000-run mark

Match facts
Sunday 18 March 2018
Start time: 19:00  local (13:30 GMT)