Former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene believes that the Indian team are the favorites to win the Nidahas Trophy final because of their superior pace attack. He also feels that Bangladesh has nothing to lose against India.
India reached the final of the tournament after winning three back-to-back matches after facing a shock defeat in the first encounter of the tournament against Sri Lanka.
In his column for Times of India, Jayawardene wrote, “Bangladesh have nothing to lose and everything to gain against India. They can enjoy being the underdogs after two round-robin stage defeats and attack India without the pressure of expectation.
“India may be missing some of their top senior players, but they have already shown that they have great depth of talent right now in all departments.”
“They have a clear advantage in terms of their pace bowling against Bangladesh, but in terms of batting things are more evenly balanced. Bangladesh have the experience in their top order to do some damage. At the end of the day, as is so often the case with T20 cricket, it will probably come down to who handles the pressure the best and is able to best navigate themselves through the key moments in the game.”
Talking about the ugly incident that transpired between the players from both the teams, Jayawardene felt that the ICC could have controlled the situation better.
“The final-over fracas should certainly have been handled better. From a neutral perspective, it was definitely a no-ball and the umpires made a mistake. They then made matters worse by not taking charge of the situation and diffusing the tension with effective communication,” he wrote.
“Having said that, the reactions of the players, including the threats by Bangladesh to leave the field of play, are not the kind of thing you want young cricket fans to see. Emotions were understandably running high, but players have a larger responsibility to the game.”
He also mentioned that host nation-Sri Lanka, did not deserve to be in the final after three straight losses.
“The elimination of hosts Sri Lanka from this Nidahas Trophy has obviously caused a lot of local disappointment. However, sadly, the truth is that Sri Lanka don’t deserve to be in the final after three straight defeats. India have been extremely impressive after their wobbly start and Bangladesh have battled really hard and shown their experience at critical times,” wrote Jayawardene.