Unless you had your head buried in the Arabian Desert, you already knew who the big draws in the Asia Cup were. India bring in the big money with their advertisers and broadcast deals, and the Asian Cricket Council seemed to have designed the Asia Cup around the top-ranked ODI side's schedule and needs.

Soumya Sarkar was batting in the ICC Academy nets the day before yesterday's match. He was facing up to some local net bowlers.

The Tigers’ ace-paceman Mustafizur Rahman was having a difficult time bowling with a cramp which he suffered due to the extreme conditions in UAE. The Tigers played three matches in the space of four days in those conditions and while Afghanistan did the same, they are more conditioned to playing in such heat, having played their home matches at the UAE in the past.

On Monday, there was a media day at the ICC headquarters, not far from where India will play Afghanistan in the Asia Cup today, where bigwigs like ICC CEO Dave Richardson, general manager of the Anti-Corruption Unit Alex Marshall and general manager of cricket Geoff Allardice spoke to the media about the state of cricket in 2018.

Before yesterday, Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan had played four ODIs and three T20s against Bangladesh. Handling the world-class leg-spinner has always been a bothersome prospect for the Tigers. In each of the four previous ODIs that Rashid played against Bangladesh, he had managed more than one wicket and did not give away over 40 runs in any of those games.

However many runs he has scored in ODI cricket, the scale of Liton Das's ambition is staggering. Wiley Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid

A no-ball that led to a dead ball which led to a wicket, an appeal denied but not ignored, a wasted review that punished an innocent batsman -- some of the moments from Bangladesh's Asia Cup match against India.

Bangladesh's injury concerns and unfortunate scheduling in the Asia Cup combined to provide a debut for left-arm pacer Abu Hider, who had shown in recent T20Is that he was up for a fight.

The incident occurred during the 42nd over of the Bangladesh innings. Rubel Hossain was facing up to Sri Lanka’s star performer Lasith Malinga, who was looking for his fifth wicket of the match.

Lasith Malinga was not picked by Sri Lanka for a year as the board wanted him to prove himself in the domestic circuit. He did just that and yesterday showed that being a champion sportsman is like riding a bike.

The scene was set at the media room of the Dubai International Stadium yesterday for the pre-tournament press briefing. There were six chairs on the dais waiting for the six captains to lead their countries in the Asia Cup.

Pakistan will open their Asia Cup campaign on the second day of the tournament against Hong Kong. They are taking the match against

Even before a ball has been bowled in the Asia Cup, the Bangladesh team have been considerably disadvantaged due to what can only be called mismanagement.

With injury concerns looming over Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, arguably two of the most important seniors of the side, Bangladesh's batting department will bank on another experienced campaigners in Mahmudullah Riyad and Mushfiqur Rahim during the Asia Cup.

Shakib Al Hasan has been the one name in Bangladesh cricket that has always remained the centre of discussion when it comes to planning for upcoming series.