Tigers eye Asian crown beating India sans Shakib, Tamim

Bangladesh and India were the two finalists of the last version of the Asia Cup, who once again will engage in the Asian excellence clash today at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.
The final of the 14th ACC Asia Cup 2018 kicks off at 5:30pm BST.
Both the defending champions and runner-ups are frantic to uphold the silverware.
Injury inflicted Bangladesh, however, will come to the battleground armed with spirit, passion and desperation against world's number two ODI side India. The most two important and consistent Tigers combatants Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal are already ruled out from the tournament for their finger injuries, while Mushfiqur Rahim has been roaring in every match with chest fracture.
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza also had sustained finger wounds during virtual semi-final against Pakistan on Wednesday. Since eight hamstring surgeries couldn't put Mash out of cricket, thus a minor finger injury is nothing to care about for the charismatic Tigers leader. The captain fantastic always leads the team from the front defeating all-odds and is expected to carry it on today.
India rested their regular skipper Virat Kohli. They will also miss their pace all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was ruled out of the tournament sustaining injury on September 19 during the match between India and Pakistan.
On the way to the final, Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka and lost to Afghanistan in the group round and qualified for the super-four, where they conceded a
seven- wicket defeat against India but turn around in the next match. They smashed Afghanistan and Pakistan in the consecutive last two super-four matches to reach the final of the biggest Asian face off.
India, on the other hand, had reached the final remaining unbeaten, although they tied against Afghanistan in the last super-four match.
India participated 13 times of the 14 seasons of the Asia Cup, who became champions on six occasions. Bangladesh, on the contrary, had played two finals in 2012 and 2016 respectively among equivalent appearances. Tigers failed to clinch the title in 2012 losing a close game to Pakistan by 2-run margin, while India snatched the Asian trophy from Dhaka beating hosts by seven wickets in 2016.
Head to head stats also favours India since they had been defeated five times by Tigers in ODI against 28 wins but Bangladesh are triumphant with lots of successes in recent years. They played in the quarter-final of the ICC World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand, who also reached the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in England and Wales.
Recently, they bagged two more international trophies beating Windies in ODI and T20i bilateral series receiving Caribbean hospitality before the Asia Cup mission. Bangladesh reached Asia Cup final for the third time among the last four involvements. So, highly boost-up Tigers are ready to paw at the Asian final stage.