Bangladesh v Pakistan, Asia Cup 1st Match

Match facts

March 11, 2012
Start time 1400 (0800 GMT) 

The tough experience that India and Sri Lanka went through in Australia in their recent tour will give them an advantage over their rivals in the Asia Cup,Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq said on Saturday.

The biennial four-nation Asia Cup begins in Dhaka on Sunday with Pakistan and Bangladesh vying for the top spot in the continent along with India and Sri Lanka.

India had just a few days break before flying to Dhaka after a tough Australia tour where they lost all four test matches and failed to qualify for the finals of the tri-series one-day
tournament.

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Sri Lanka, beaten by Australia in the best of three finals of the tri-series, flew to Dhaka directly from Australia on Saturday.

"I think the way they have played cricket in Australia, it will always be difficult... to play against them as they have played tough cricket over there," Misbah told a news conference in Dhaka about their opponents.

"To compete with them we have to work very hard and have to improve our performance."

Pakistan toured Bangladesh in December and won both Test and one-day series by a clear margin.

They also beat England in a test series 3-0 in the United Arab Emirates before losing the one-day series 4-0 to the same opponents.  

Stats and trivia

Shahid Afridi is just one run away from 7000 ODI runs

Bangladesh's first-ever one-day international was at the Asia Cup in 1986, incidentally, against Pakistan

Bangladesh have previously hosted two editions of the Asia Cup, in 1988-89 and 2000