Youths battle for Asian supremacy

As curtain of the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup rises in Bangladesh for the first time, the young Tigers will hope to put up a better show than they previously have when the eight nation tournament kicks off at four venues across the country today.

Bangladesh have taken on a new look for their Asia Cup campaign, which begins with Towhid Hridoy and his troops taking on Sri Lanka in a Group B encounter at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium in Chattogram. Bangladesh completely restructured their setup for this tournament, which is the first platform for the team to gauge and tweak their team in the lead up to the 2020 ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa.

The young Tigers have never reached the Asia Cup final but with the likes of leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, pacer Shoriful Islam and batsman Mrittunjoy Chowdhury getting exposure in domestic competitions, their confidence should surely be on high.

After finishing third in the 2016 Under-19 World Cup at home -- their best result in the tournament – the Bangladesh U-19 team placed sixth in the previous edition of the biennial tournament in New Zealand earlier this year, raising many questions about the team's inadequate preparations.

This time however, Bangladesh are heading in on the back of some long-term preparations, including a just concluded month long training camp in Chattogram under head coach Naveed Nawaz.

"We are collecting video footage of the opponents. So far we have only gotten footage of the Sri Lankan team, but we are trying to get the footage of all our opponents and are make plans accordingly," assistant coach Mahbub Ali Zaki said ahead of the competition.

The other Group B teams -- Pakistan and Hong Kong -- will face each other at the MA Aziz stadium in Chattogram. In Group A, defending champions Afghanistan will take on United Arab Emirates at the BKSP- 4 ground while three time champions India will play against Nepal at the BKSP-3 ground.

All the fixtures will simultaneously begin at 9:00am.