Cricket: Indian Team Leaves For Asia Cup

The Indian Cricket Team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni has left for Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, to participate in the four-nation 11th Asia Cup starting on Sunday.

Only a few days ago Dhoni and his men came back from the disastrous tour of Australia, where they were knocked out of the triangular series after having been thrashed 0-4 in the preceding Test series by the home team. Hosts Bangladesh will take on Pakistan in the opening fixture of the Asia Cup which India have won 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 Team: 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.