The 2025 edition of Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in the United Arab Emirates from September 9 to 28. The eight-team tournament will consist of two groups, each comprising four teams.
While India, Pakistan, UAE and Oman are placed in Group A, Group B features Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong.
Ahead of the continental showpiece, former cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Bangladesh will end their campaign after the group stage, as he picked Sri Lanka and Afghanistan to qualify for Super 4s.
“If we talk about opportunity, they have nothing to lose and the entire world to gain because they haven’t been doing well in multi-nation tournaments for a long time,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“They used to punch above their weight. They knocked us out in 2007. They are participants in world tournaments, but are not going into them as contenders, and this is what they want to do now. So the opportunities are endless, but to say the truth, their job is cut out, even though it would be wrong to rule out any team in T20s. I feel they will get stuck. Afghanistan and Sri Lanka might actually qualify from that group. So Bangladesh’s story might end in the league stage,” he added.
According to Chopra, Bangladesh rely heavily on their skipper Litton Das in T20Is and it is their biggest weakness. He also pointed out that the Tigers tend to choke in big moments.
“In weakness, they have an overdependence on Litton Das. Litton Das is a quality player, but he is an underachiever. He hasn’t done as well as the ability he has. He is the captain at the moment, so the team will definitely look towards him, but they look towards him too much. They have a tendency of choking in big moments,” said Chopra.
“If we look at it in 2025, they have very few batters whose strike rates are close to 150. You see just one or two above 140. They are not a team that is looking for 210-220. They are a team that is very comfortable with a 160-180 total. If the opposing team decides to hit a lot, they might not have any answers,” he remarked.
