Bangladesh will participate in the forthcoming Asia Cup tournament in July, Sri Lanka. It's fixture has recently been announced. Bangladesh's first match in the tournament will be against Hong Kong.
Somehow, it reminds us the bitter memories of the world cup 2003. We were supposed to play Canada in the first ODI of the tournament, and we were supposed to beat them; which we failed miserably. Like many people, I would also like to think that this is a history now. Like everybody else, me too, would like to believe that under the guidence of the new coach Dav Whatmore, we would comfortably beat Hong Kong.
However, there will still be an added pressure on us on the day that we go to field to play Hong Kong, if our next 6 One Day Internationals; that is, the one day series against Zimbabwe and West Indies are win-less.
This will be Hong Kong's maiden appearance in One Day Internationals. Bangladesh's performance in the very first match of a tournament is also not so good. As it all turns out, we must win at least one One Day International match either against Zimbabwe or against West Indies.
The fixture of the Asia Cup tournament is such that if Bangladesh manage to win against Hong Kong this time, then the players will get the chance to play three more One Day Internationals against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
This is a new format for the Asia Cup. Previously, there were only four teams that used to participate in this particular tournament, including Bangladesh. As the number of teams has now increased to six from four, with the maiden appearance of United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, which forced this change in the fixture of this tournament.
Strengthwise, this Hong Kong team is much weaker than Canada. However, they have been playing in the ICC trophy for more than twenty years, and their age group teams have been regularly participating in the various age group tournaments of Asia.
However, taking all these things into consideration, if complacency does not force us to think otherwise, we should be able to comfortably beat Hong Kong. Because if we can't, then it will be Hong Kong's maiden victory in not only their first One Day International appearance, but also their maiden victory against any Bangaldesh side.