Asia Cup 2018: If India Take Bangladesh Lightly They Could Be In For A Surprise: Sunil Gavaskar

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has warned the Men in Blue to guard against complacency when they take on Bangladesh in the summit clash of Asia Cup.

The way India have played in this competition so far, they will certainly be the favourites to lift the title. India blew away the likes of Pakistan and Bangladesh to ensure an easy passage to the final. However, performances against Hong Kong and Afghanistan showed that they too can come under pressure.

On the other hand, Bangladesh will be brimming with confidence after making it to the final. The Tigers needed to win two games on the trot to make it to the final. And they beat Afghanistan and pre-tournament favourites Pakistan to set-up a mouth-watering clash with India.

Going by current form as well as history, India will be ahead of Bangladesh. India are on a 11-match unbeaten streak in the Asia Cup.

However, Sunil Gavaskar has warned India against taking their rivals lightly. Bangladesh have qualified for their third final in the last four editions.

“This is not an anti-climax. Bangladesh fully deserve to be in the final. It’s about time we should stop thinking that only India and Pakistan matter. The kind of support that Bangladesh have and their fans throng the stadium. They are absolutely fanatics.

“They are as ardent fans of their team as the Indian fans are. I don’t think it is fair to say it’s an anti-climax. Bangladesh fully deserve their place in the finals because they made an excellent comeback against Afghanistan and have played exceedingly well so far. If India take them lightly they could be in for a surprise,” Gavaskar told India Today.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, will hope that their players deliver in absence of two of their biggest names – Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan. Tamim was ruled out of the competition after the first game while Shakib left the team before the important clash against Pakistan.

But on the positive side, former skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, who is the second highest run-scorer in the tournament so far, belted a brilliant 99 against Pakistan to give his side some-much needed confidence.

“Mushfiqur has been batting absolutely brilliantly both his knocks against Afghanistan and Pakistan were terrific efforts.

“Despite the fact that two of their stalwarts (Shakib and Tamim) are not in the team they have done really well and fully deserve to be in the final,” concluded Gavaskar.

Bangladesh and India will fight it out for the trophy on Friday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.