Asia Cup 2018: Rohit Sharma's India face gritty Bangladesh after mauling Pakistan

Dubai: The Bangladesh team and its media's perception of India being the proverbial big bully adds a dash of excitement to the contests.

Friday's encounter won't be any different as Bangladesh are forced to play back-to-back matches in Abu Dhabi (vs Afghanistan Thursday) and in Dubai (Friday).

This wasn't the original schedule, but the BCCI had managed to arm twist the Asian Cricket Council in tweaking it, causing a lot of heartburn.

''Even if we win against Afghanistan (on Thursday), we will be tagged as second in group and will have to travel to Dubai on Friday after playing in Abu Dhabi today,'' Mortaza had said on the eve of the Afghanistan game.

So, that feeling of being undermined is very much there in this Bangladeshi team, and it won't be surprising if the infamous 'Mauka Mauka' chant is back in the lips of their fans.

Overall, the match has more ingredients to become a blockbuster than the one against Pakistan.

Meanwhile Pakistan will be aiming to put up a better batting show against Afghanistan at Abu Dhabi.

The likes of Babar Azam, Imam ul Haq and Fakhar Zaman might find it challenging to face Rashid Khan, especially after their big win against Sri Lanka.

Squads:

India (from): Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar

Bangladesh (from): Masrafe Bin Mortaza (captain), Shakib Al Hasan (vice-captain), Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Mithun, Litton Kumar Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Ariful Haque, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nazmul Islam Apu, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Haider Rony.