Asia Cup 2018: India's likely XI against Bangladesh in the finals

Bangladesh beat Pakistan in an engaging knock-out game to earn a berth in the finals against India. The talk, leading up to this game, had been whether Pakistan was capable of giving India a fight in the final. Surprisingly, Pakistan media, fans, and even former players were dismissing Bangladesh as a mere irritation rather than a serious opponent capable of beating Pakistan.

Given how poorly Pakistan had played the entire tournament, it's surprising how dismissive they were of a capable and feisty opponent like Bangladesh. After all, the airwaves in Pakistan were filled with criticism of this team's performance in the Asia Cup. The last thing anyone expected of this under-performing Pakistan side was to underestimate their opponent. But, that's exactly what they did.

So, Bangladesh pulled off a well-deserved win against Pakistan. Pakistan, on the other hand, is left wondering what went so wrong with their campaign that started with so much promise and confidence.

Bangladesh will face India in the Finals

Bangladesh has been the dark horse and nobody thought they had it in them to do anything substantial this time around in the Asia Cup. Throughout the tournament, Afghanistan managed to draw the collective attention of the fans with some scintillating performances including a convincing win over Bangladesh and a tie versus India. Their inexperience, however, led them to miss out on a chance to possibly make it to the finals.

Meanwhile, the wily Bangladeshis snuck through under the radar and are now ready to take on India in the finals.

India has been completely dominant in this tournament. There were some murmurs at the start of the tournament about India's vulnerability as a result of Virat Kohli's absence. Those sentiments further gained momentum when India surprisingly had a difficult time dismissing Hong Kong in their first encounter of the Asia Cup. But all those doubts and hopes have been laid to rest.

Bangladesh has already faced a massive defeat at the hands of India earlier in the tournament. Their struggles against India, historically, are well documented and something that is not lost on the Bangladesh team. Nevertheless, they will come out swinging, hoping to knock out India.

Bangladesh will likely keep the same team that beat Pakistan in their last match. However, while they got away with being one bowler short against Pakistan, as a result of Shakib's injury, it remains to be seen how they manage their bowling resources against a much tougher opponent in India.

India will, on the other hand, make a couple of changes. Here is their likely XI for the final of the Asia Cup 2018 against Bangladesh.

Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed

India will in all likelihood bring in Rahul in place of Karthik. Karthik hasn't looked convincing in this tournament. Rahul, on the other hand, looked very impressive in his only appearance against Afghanistan. Also, given Bangladesh's struggles against left-arm pacer Junaid Khan of Pakistan, expect India to bring in their left arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed against Bangladesh. Khaleel has looked promising in his appearances so far in the Asia Cup.

Moreover, India already has three spinners in its line-up and bringing in a seamer against a Bangladesh top order that looks shaky without Tamim Iqbal is the right move to make.