Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said they will have to dish out a "big performance" against Bangladesh in the summit clash of the Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament if they desire to lift the trophy on Sunday.
A dominant India on Thursday maintained their all-win record by producing yet another resounding performance to thrash minnows United Arab Emirates by nine wickets in a lop-sided inconsequential round robin league match.
The Indian juggernaut rolled on as they have now won nine out of the 10 T20 Internationals played this year, a very good track record going into the ICC World T20. And Dhoni said they need to continue the good habit.
"We need 15 minutes to learn bad habit. You need maybe 5-10 games to develop a good habit. There is always scope for improvement. We will have to be consistent in big games.
"We will have to come up with another big performance in the final. Bangladesh are a good team and they have improved a lot. It should be a good final," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.
India made three changes in their playing eleven, bringing in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pawan Negi and Harbhajan Singh in place of Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Asked Dhoni why he didn't tinker with the bating line-up, the skipper said: "I can only promote a few players at a time. Everybody has got enough chances to bat.
"In the batting order, only (Ajinkya) Rahane was left out. More often this is our batting order. We felt it was important to give games to bowlers who have not played so far.
"It is very important for the guys who played today to keep pushing the selectors and the skipper." UAE skipper Amjad Javed said they knew beforehand that it was always going to be very difficult against favourites India.
"We planned to score 120. We were playing the favourites of the tournament and it was difficult for us. When you face top-quality bowlers, it is difficult. They have got experience and they will come back hard," Javed said.
Man-of-the-match Rohit Sharma, who struck a 28-ball 39 in India's paltry chase of 82, said he was delighted to have come up with a decent performance with the bat on the bowler-friendly Shere Bangla National Stadium wicket.
"The wickets here have been challenging, not the easiest. I am glad that we have put up a performance like that. Initially, you have to see the conditions. Once you get a hang of it, you can probably play your shots," he said.
"Shot selection is very important. You play a lot square of the wicket. It is not easy to play on the up to cover, midwicket."
