India play Bangladesh on Wednesday to start Stage 2 of the Asia Cup.
In reality, India could not have had a better draw than to play Bangladesh first up. It is always nice to have a win early, and barring an unbelievable result, India will have to only win one more match out of their next two to get into the final.
The big match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan will be an absolute beauty. A Pakistani defeat will put its team under unbelievable pressure with their next match being against their nemesis, India.
India will be hoping that Sri Lanka defeat Pakistan and give them another opportunity to deliver a huge psychological blow to Inzamam-ul-Haq and his troops and throw them out of this tournament.
Let's look at the SWAT [strengths, weaknesses and tactics] analysis for this important match for India.
INDIA
STRENGTHS: The form of Rahul Dravid is very pleasant to the eye for everyone. He adapts himself so well to all occasions. Dravid paces the innings and allows the power hitters to bat around him. My major concern is that if he gets knocked over early, who will do the job for him? No one is really hitting them that well in the top order.
WEAKNESSES: Zaheer Khan's injury is a huge concern for the Indian camp. In practice, Zaheer was bowling good heat and it is a shame he has broken down again. The continuing poor form of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly will be a huge worry for the Bangladesh team. They are both annoyed with themselves in relation to their poor showing. They are both due for a big score and I feel that some team will be slaughtered by these two brilliant batsmen soon.
Has the running between the wickets improved? Only moderately in my opinion. There is room for further improvement.
The fielding was down as well in their last defeat, but I cannot be too critical of this Indian team because they have really improved over the past 18 months.
TACTICS: No mucking around with the batting order please, Mr Ganguly! India should use this game to bring Harbhajan Singh back into the team for the injured Zaheer. Ganguly should also use Tendulkar and Sehwag more as the fifth and sixth bowlers.
BANGLADESH
What I say here is that in the next three days the Bangladesh team should cop an absolute hammering if the other teams are serious. They have not many stars in the team. They have a tendency to drag opposition teams down to their level somewhat. They play very scrappy cricket and have no bowlers who have any pace or any spinners who turn the ball prodigiously. To me they are a bit boring to watch. Harsh, but fair.
Bangladesh's coach in Dav Whatmore has done wonders for this team in preparation, fitness, and direction. They have worked very hard on their fielding as well, but really they struggle in the skills department and that is their major downfall.
India are down in the confidence department. They still look rusty and they will use this game to get back on track and play like we all know they can. Sure, they were disappointing in their last match. Everyone was down and out of sorts. The great sign for coach John Wright and Ganguly is that they could not have played any worse and still had a chance in the finishing overs. This is heartening.
India will win easily and, hopefully, we will see some runs from their two big stars, Tendulkar and Ganguly.