UNB, Dhaka

The 13th Asia Cup final presents an opportunity for newly assertive Bangladesh to make history by winning the title for the very first time.

Indeed, it would be the Tigers’ first victory in any tournament competed by cricket’s elite Test-playing nations.

Standing in their way will be Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s India, the number-one ranked team in the T20 format, that this year’s Asia Cup is being played in for the very first time.

The 5-time Asian champions will go in as firm favourites against the hosts, yet no-one who has seen the brand of cricket Bangladesh have played in the last 18 months or so under inspirational captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza will dare rule out an upset.

In the build-up to the final, the Bangladesh skipper was keen to relieve his team of any undue pressure that is likely to accrue, thanks to the attention of almost 160 million Bangladeshis set to focus squarely on Mirpur for the duration of the final.

The Narail Express said, “If we play the way we’ve played in the last three matches, hopefully we’ll keep our momentum going to get something good in the end.”

Yet even he couldn’t escape the fact that the flavour to this occasion is bound to be different.

As far as team news is concerned, concerns were raised over the fitness of the Tigers’ most accomplished cricketer, leading all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, after he walked off from practice on Friday gingerly nursing a limp. But yesterday it was confirmed that it wasn’t so serious as to rule him out of the big occasion.

Any tactical changes are being kept close to the chest by both teams, but there’s a strong rumour that Abu Hider Rony, the young pace sensation from the last BPL series, will be thrust into the side for Bangladesh, to provide some of the variety that went missing when Mustafizur Rahman got injured in the middle of the tournament.

There is also talk of Nasir Hossain, who broke into the Bangladesh set-up during their one previous run to the final of the Asia Cup, in 2012, playing in the final to replace Mohd. Mithun, who has largely disappointed

On other hand, M.S. Dhoni’s India are set to revert back to their best combination without any injury concerns against Bangladesh, after testing their bench against the UAE.

Ravindra Jadeja, Ashish Nehra and Ravichandran Ashwin will slot back in for Pawan Negi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harbhajan Singh.

Bangladesh squad (probable): Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah Riyad, Nasir Hossain/Mohammad Mithun, Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny/Abu Hider Rony and Taskin Ahmed.

India squad (probable): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah.