Daijiworld Media Network

Fatullah, Feb 26: Hello and warm welcome to the all important match between Bangladesh and India. The hosts will take on a new look Indian side, which is without the services of its regular captain Dhoni, who had to miss the Asia Cup due to a side strain. Virat Kohli will get a chance to test his captaincy skills in this tournament and they have brought in Pujara also, which will strenghten their middle order, as it is a weak link for the Indian team right now. On the other hand, Bangladesh are without their successful all-rounder, Shakib, who is serving a 3-match ban and will not be available for the first few matches of this Asia Cup.

India have won the toss and have opted to field.

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli(c), Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Varun Aaron

Bangladesh (Playing XI): Shamsur Rahman, Anamul Haque, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim(w/c), Nasir Hossain, Naeem Islam, Ziaur Rahman, Sohag Gazi, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain

Rahim: 'We also wanted to bowl first, hopefully we will put up a better performance with the bat. Missing Shakib is difficult, but it will give some youngsters a good chance. We will look to put some pressure on the Indian middle order later on'.

Kohli: 'We will bowl first as the wicket looks dry. After looking at yesterdays match, the wicket eased out under the lights and we would like to take that advantage. Pujara, Pandey, Mishra are not playing, I can't recollect another name at the moment'.

Pitch report: It is a lot more warmer today and the breeze is not flowing. It is a well rolled wicket which is devoid of any grass. It will be a very slow and low wicket. The cracks are more evident today than yesterday. Arun Lal reckons that it will be test for faster bowlers on this track and the captain winning toss will look to bat first.

Match Preview

So India go into battle without MS Dhoni as general in a major tournament for the first time since he took over as captain almost seven years ago. This of course gives the world champions a chance to see how Virat Kohli stands up as captain against the big boys but can they fill the void left by Dhoni's absence in the middle-order? After nightmarish tours of South Africa and New Zealand, India will face Bangladesh in their Asia Cup opener and it could well be a tricky encounter.

Bangladesh are no pushovers at home and though they were blanked by Sri Lanka in the recently concluded limited overs series, rest assured Mushfiqur Rahim's men will be dangerous.

Bangladesh

The hosts have been known to slay some giants over the last two years and India would do well to remember the humiliating defeat they suffered against the hosts two years back, in what turned out to be Sachin Tendulkar's last ODI. They did challenge Sri Lanka pretty hard and at least in the first two ODIs, had the upper hand for a significant time before the Islanders' sheer depth and lass took them home. India, without the likes of Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, all very heavy scorers in the sub-continent would be wary.

Bangladesh are not without problems themselves. Star all-rounder Shakib-al-Hasan will miss the first two games in order to serve out a three-match ban over inappropriate gestures on camera while Tamim Iqbal has been ruled out of the Asia Cup with an injury. However, their bowlers would want to replicate the good work they did against Sri Lanka and hope to exploit a young and inexperienced Indian batting line-up.

India

After a successful 2013, India have been at the receiving end of the stick. After a 2-0 drubbing against the Proteas, India went down 4-0 to the Black Caps and have now gone through eight ODIs without a win. There is a lot of work for India to do and perhaps it's a blessing in disguise to not have Dhoni, who has been pulled up for his defensive tactics on the field, in the ranks.

Kohli will be the stand-in captain and he is the kind of player who likes to lead from the front. The aggressive batsman has been at the top of his game for two years now and he will once again be the most valuable player for India in this tournament. The likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja and maybe Cheteshwar Pujara will look to play crucial roles around their captain.

The bowling has been a cause for concern but R Ashwin and Jadeja will be more potent on slower pitches and can cause some serious damage.

Quotes

The Asia Cup is my first big tournament as captain. It excites me to have a young group that I can have a chat with, and it gives me a chance to test where I stand as an International captain. - Virat Kohli, stand-in-captain, India

I am unhappy that the selectors didn't consult me before making the team. In that sense, I am shocked. I wasn't aware of the inclusions and the exclusions.- Mushfiqur Rahim, captain, Bangladesh