Indian squad leaves for Asia Cup

The Indian squad, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, left here by a morning flight to Bangladesh capital Dhaka to take part in the four-nation 11th Asia Cup starting on Sunday.

Zeenews Sports Bureau

Mumbai: Days after the disastrous tour of Australia, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men boarded a flight on Saturday to the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka to take part in the four-nation 11th Asia Cup starting on Sunday. Men in Blue had a forgetful tour Down Under. After the 0-4 drubbing by the hosts in the Test series, Indian team failed miserably in the ODIs as well. They were knocked out of the triangular series invloving Australia and Sri Lanka. The tournament will get started on Sunday with hosts Bangladesh taking on Pakistan. Going by the past Asia Cup records, India have a slight edge but will have to stave off a stiff Sri Lankan challenge if they were to triumph. India have won the tournament five times in its history, including on the last occasion two years ago in Sri Lanka. India open their campaign against Sri Lanka on March 13 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. The clash between two arch rivals India and Pakistan is set for March 18, which would be the first meeting between the two sides since last March in the World Cup semifinal at Mohali where India won before clinching cricket`s showpiece event for the second time in their history. The Asia Cup, in which each of the four teams meets every other team once in the league stage, concludes on March 22. Indian squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt), Virat Kohli (Vice Capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Rahul Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, Ashok Dinda. Coach: Duncan Fletcher. India’s matches 13th March: India v Sri Lanka (13:30 IST) 16th March: India v Bangladesh (13:30 IST) 18th March: India v Pakistan (13:30 IST) 22nd March: Final (13:30 IST) With PTI inputs