LAHORE, June 23: The opening match of the Asia Cup between lowly-rated Bangladesh and United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Tuesday is unlikely to be a crowd puller since none of the outfits boasts superstars in their line-ups.

Yet Bangladesh, with almost ten years of experience in international cricket, clearly holds an upper hand over UAE and could easily be called as hot favourite. The match starts at 4.00pm and will conclude at 11.00pm.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has not made efforts to create much hype for the Asia Cup despite the fact that it is being held for the first time in Pakistan. The entire city has not witnessed any banners or poster attracting the spectators neither have there been any aggressive publicity campaigns in electronic or the print media..

Bangladesh, since getting Test status about eight years ago, has had no big achievements to show in the limited overs cricket. In fact, they tasted 14 defeats on the trot before a 3-0 clean sweep at home against Ireland but that was again followed by a five-match drubbing by Pakistan and the tri-nation loss.

On the other hand, the UAE having just one international win to their credit against Netherlands in the 1996 World Cup, are looking to gain experience and exposure through the match.

UAE, having won the World Cricket League Division II title in December, mainly comprises Asian expatriates. They have also introduced four local players recently which shows that the game is progressing in the desert kingdom.

Earlier, after landing at Lahore on Sunday, Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful had set the target of qualifying for the second round of the competition for which they need to beat UAE.

UAE’s skipper Saqib Ali, of Pakistani origin, said that they were here to learn and to improve their game by playing against top teams of the region.

The hot and humid weather, however, will pose some problems for both the teams. The pitch at the Gaddafi Stadium has been an sporting one in the recent matches and should not hold much perils for the sides.

Bangladesh (from): Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Shahriar Nafees, Raqibul Hasan, Alok Kapali, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mahmudullah, Farhad Reza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Dolar Mahmud.

UAE (from): Saqib Ali (captain), Fahad Alhashmi, Alawi Shukri, Aman Ali, Amjad Ali (wicketkeeper), Amjad Javed, Arshad Ali, Indika Batuwitarachchi, Nizel Fernandes, Khurram Khan, Mohammad Tauqir, Salman Farooq, Shadeep Silva, Vikrant Shetty, Zahid Shah