MIRPUR: India enter the final phase of their preparations for next month’s World Twenty20 with the Asia Cup starting tomorrow but a cloud of uncertainty over skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s availability threatens to disturb the side’s momentum going into the tournament-opener against Bangladesh here.
Dhoni has suffered a muscle spasm during the team’s training session yesterday, prompting the BCCI to rush Parthiv Patel as his back-up.
The skipper’s fitness is a concern going into tomorrow’s match against the sprightly hosts, who have built a reputation of being giant-slayers on more than one occasion.
The continental championship will be played in a Twenty20 format from the usual ODI keeping the World T20 in mind and the need for the Asian teams to get some much-needed match time before the marquee event starts next month.
For India, who are considered as title contenders, a good Asia Cup performance will give them the much-needed boost going into the World T20.
While Dhoni has always stated that “revenge is a very strong word in sport” but the Indian team will be keen to get even against a strong Bangladesh side that beat them fair and square in a three-ODI series at the same venue last year under hostile circumstances with a partisan crowd backing its team.
This was against the backdrop of the controversial Rohit Sharma decision during the quarter-final of the 50-over World Cup in Melbourne.
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