Asia Cup: Bangladesh hope to finally cross the finish line

Bangladesh team train at the ICC Cricket Academy on Tuesday as they gear up for a big challenge in the Asia Cup.

Bangladesh hope they can finally cross the finish line when they compete in Asia's biggest cricket competition - the Asia Cup - in the UAE over the next fortnight.
The Bangla Tigers have ended up as second best, finishing runners-up twice, both at home in 2012 and 2016. They went down to Pakistan by two runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur in 2012 and then lost comprehensively to India by eight wickets, also at Mirpur.
But having had a successful tour of the West Indies, in both ODIs and T20 Internationals, the Bangla Tigers will be looking to carry that momentum in the Unimoni Asia Cup from September 15 to 28.
Six teams - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Hong Kong are taking part in the tournament in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. And Bangladesh were the first team to touch down in the UAE and wasted little time to get into the thick of things. They were in action right away, taking part in training sessions on Monday and Tuesday at the Dubai Sports City's ICC Cricket Academy.
The Bangla cricketers have completed six hours of fitness, training and practice at the ICC facility.
And experienced head Shakib Al Hasan said that focus was on the process and believed that if they did the hard yards right, the returns will come. "We are confident enough after we had a very good series against West Indies, especially in ODIs and T20s so we will take that confidence into the Asia Cup," the vice-captain said.
"Both the teams (Afghanistan and Sri Lanka) have been playing good cricket, especially in 50 overs, so we have to play our best to go into the next round," he added.
Bangladesh, who defeated the West Indies 2-1 in both the ODIs and T20Is, are in Group B along with Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. India, Pakistan and qualifiers Hong Kong are in Group A. Shakib said that their main ambition was to win the elusive trophy but preferred to take it one step at a time.
"We want to take one game at a time, but obviously the ultimate goal is to win the trophy. This is what everyone is here for. To get that success we need to get the process right so we will be looking more into our process rather than on the trophy," the 31-year-old said.
Bangladesh take on Sri Lanka in the tournament opener at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday and Shakib said they will have to raise their game against the Lankans.
"Sri Lanka has a very good side, and a number of players who can win matches, so we cannot focus on just one or two guys. Eleven players will be playing so we have to perform well against all of them," he said.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews was looking forward to the tournament. "This is Asia's mega tournament and it is being played every two years. It is a tournament all the teams take very seriously," said Mathews.
"We are really looking forward to this tournament, and playing against Bangladesh and Afghanistan. They are both top teams, and have been playing extremely good cricket, and we look forward to playing really good cricket to beat them too," added the 31-year-old.
james@khaleejtimes.com