India win toss, opt to bowl in Asia Cup final

Mirpur (Bangladesh): India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first in their Asia Cup Twenty20 final against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Sunday.

The match has been reduced to 15 overs a side after heavy rain and strong winds delayed the toss by around two hours.

Dhoni said after the toss that the overall conditions influenced his decision to make the hosts bat first.

"Also in a shortened game, it an advantage to bat second. The reason being that you have 10 wickets (in hand)," Dhoni said.

The Indians have made a few changes to the team that thrashed minnows United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the last match. Veteran pacer Ashish Nehra, who has been in excellent form, returned to the playing XI along with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

They replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harbhajan Singh and Pawan Negi.

"This team is quite settled. We have the same team that played Sri Lanka. I think this looks like a side where everything is covered," Dhoni said.

The hosts made two changes, bringing in Nasir Hossain and Abu Hider Rony in place of Mithun and Arafat Sunny.

"We wanted to field as well, but now we don't have any choice, now we need to bat well. The ball can do its bit early on, but we will have to deal with the swing in the first 2-3 overs. The crowd has been supporting us," Bangladesh skipper Marhrafe Mortaza said.

Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah.

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Abu Hider, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed.