COLOMBO, 29 July 2004 — Defending champions Pakistan are already out of contention for the Asia Cup title and their last Super League match against Bangladesh has been reduced to merely of academic interest.
The format of the competition has also come for some criticism.
The final clash between India and hosts Sri Lanka will be the third time that the two teams will be meeting during the current tournament. The format was changed to include two non-Test playing nations.
This time the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong had qualified.
The idea may be to encourage associate members of the International Cricket Council but it brings down the overall standard of the game in the competition.
For that matter, though Bangladesh are a Test-playing nation, they have yet to truly match up to other teams. But in all fairness to Bangladesh, they need some more time.
With a lot of hard work under coach Dav Whatmore, they have enough raw talent to be molded into a winning side over the years.
Whatmore said his team would play the match like any other One-Day International.
“We would like to go back with a good record,” he said.
His captain Habibul Bashar agreed.
“This match is big for us. We have not done much in the tournament. We will do our best to get a win so that we get a morale boost ahead of the Champions Trophy in England,” Bashar said.
However, so far Bangladesh’s performance in the Asia Cup has been dismal.
Apart from one win over Hong Kong in the initial league game, they were no match for Pakistan and India, losing by big margins.
The most ignominious was the ten-wicket loss suffered at the hands of Sri Lanka in the Super League. With nothing at stake except for some national pride and the fear that the 1999 World Cup defeat may come back to haunt them, the Pakistan team will be anxious to see that they win this match.
But Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer says his team would not take it easy. “Of course it was disappointing yesterday the way we got eliminated. But we are not taking tomorrow’s match lightly. It is a match which will help Pakistan cricket,” Woolmer said.
However, it is likely that they may give some youngsters the chance to prove themselves.
Mohammad Ashraful, who holds the record for the youngest ever batsman to score a Test century, leads the Bangladesh batting line-up with Bashar. Bangladesh’s left-arm spinner Mohammed Rafique said they will not take the match likely.
Rafique who scored 111 against the West Indies on the last tour batting at No. 9, said: “We are not going to take the match lightly. We will try our best.”
