India Look to Rediscover Winning Touch

Dambulla: MS Dhoni's India have a chance to start with a win when they take on Bangladesh in their first Asia Cup match on Wednesday. With a spate of recent mediocre performances behind them, the team will be hoping to turn the tide and get their act together ahead of some key contests that follow.

This is a brief tournament and India have just three matches to make a mark. Bangladesh offer the perfect opportunity to notch up a victory, but Dhoni's men cannot afford to underestimate the Bangladeshis. India will have to get down to serious business from the word go.

Seven members of India's playing XI have joined the team straight from the series in Zimbabwe, and must surely be fatigued. Those rested from the Zimbabwe sojourn are likely to be rusty. Also, India have always struggled to adjust to conditions in Lanka. The younger members of the squad, like Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja, Ashok Dinda and R Ashwin must cope with such pressures.

Playing the game is only a part of the job profile: coping with stress and performing regardless of rest or playing conditions is what sets seasoned professionals apart. The boys in blue, fatigued as they may be, should seek inspiration in the picturesque vistas, the lush mountains and tranquil lakes of Dambulla. For, as skipper Dhoni says, "You are always under pressure when you're playing for India."

The Indians, as a unit, will be missing the steadying presence of Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh. This may heighten the pressure on the top, specially Dhoni and deputy Sehwag.

Tamim is a player who combines power with elegance, traits he shares with India's Virender Sehwag. If it is there to be hit, he will dish out the treatment, irrespective of the state of the match or his own innings.

Virender Sehwag himself is meanwhile returning from a shoulder injury. For the second year in a row, his absence hurt India at the World Twenty20, with Gautham Gambhir out of sorts in the West Indies.

Team news

India Saurabh Tiwary is the only new face for India, but it's uncertain if they will try him out immediately. The seniors will get first preference because they've had a month's break and will have to get back in to the groove quickly before big match against Pakistan on Saturday.

Squad from MS Dhoni (C & WK), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Saurabh Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Ashok Dinda, Ravichandran Ashwin

Bangladesh Mohammad Ashraful was handed a lifeline in England but failed yet again. Will he get another chance?

Squad from Shakib Al Hasan (C), Mushfiqur Rahim (VC & WK), Abdur Razzak, Jahurul Islam, Mohammad Ashraful, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Rubel Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mashrafe Mortaza, Naeem Islam, Shafiul Islam, Syed Rasel

Stats and trivia

• India have a 50% win record in Dambulla, winning four out of eight matches. Bangladesh have never played an ODI here.
• Bangladesh have won only two out of 21 matches against India. In neutral venues, they have won one out of five, with the win coming, quite famously, in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.
• India's opening pairs have struggled to string together partnerships in Dambulla: in eight innings they average 15.50 runs per stand, with only one half-century.

Match facts
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Start time 14:30 local (09:00 GMT)