Following their tense two-wicket win over hosts Sri Lanka on Friday, Bangladesh and India have proved they are the best teams in the tri-nation series to meet in the final today at the R Premadasa International Stadium.
For India who go out as the favourites they want to continue the way they have been playing in the tournament so far. Having begun it with a loss to Sri Lanka they have regrouped and won the next three matches quite handsomely and that includes two wins against Bangladesh.
India although they are not at full strength has proved that they have a strong bench of players to compete with other nations and win. The team Rohit Sharma is leading is sans five key players in Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, but yet they have reached a final of an international tournament and are one step away from winning it.
“With Rohit, the first thing that he said was that although we have a few of our other players missing, we’re looking to play exactly the sort of cricket that we’ve played in the past one year. We’re looking to win every match,” said Dinesh Karthik the wicket-keeper/batsman of the Indian team. “Till now we’ve been pretty successful in this tournament and we’re looking forward to one more game. I’m sure it will be a very good match.
“Everybody has got a decent hit. Up to number six everybody has batted. I think we have done a fair job till now and going into the final lots of bases covered for sure. The team that bowls better has a better chance to win the final,” he said.
Assessing the opposition they are up against Karthik said: “As a team Bangladesh are known for their tenacity. They really try hard. They are a team that achieved Test status not many years ago from there on they have propelled in all formats of the game and done well for themselves. Especially in sub-continent conditions they are a very good team. We are focussing a lot on our processes, our routines that have given good results till now. We are well led by Rohit and the team has been doing well. In terms of preparations we will try to keep it as similar to what was in the previous game and not think too much.”
Karthik said that he hoped there would be a good attendance at the final despite the host country Sri Lanka missing out.
“This has been the case for tri-series. One reason that the tri-series wasn’t in vogue for a long time is because when the home team is not playing, you tend to get a match with very little crowd.
“But you’ve got to take the pros with the cons. From the players’ perspective, it’s a little tricky because you’ve constantly got to be playing every match at a high standard to have a chance to get to the final. Having said that the home team is not going to be playing and I’m not sure how many people are going to turn up, I genuinely wish they turn up in good numbers,” said Karthik.