``Bangladesh is not an easy match,'' conceded Pakistan captain Rameez Raja.
``They've come here to play one-day cricket and I am expecting a fight from them,'' he said.
``As I've said on so many occasions, the team that plays well on a particular day wins. If we focus what we are to do we can do it. We want to win this cup desperately,'' said Rameez.
Since the inception of the Asia Cup in 1984, only India (4 times) and Sri Lanka (once) have won it.
Pakistan are not expected to make many changes to their side from the one that lost to Sri Lanka.
What Pakistan will be up against is a fit and confident Bangladesh team whose forte is their fielding.
``We performed very well in all departments to win the ICC trophy in Malaysia early this year, but we are up against superior opposition here,'' said Bangladesh captain Akram Khan.
``Our approach is to play positive and good cricket and prepare ourselves for the next World Cup. These tournaments provide us with the opportunity to assess our strengths and weaknesses towards achieving that goal,'' said Akram.
It was one of the reasons why Bangladesh had made five changes to their ICC trophy winning squad before they set off for Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh's efforts of reaching their goal has been enhanced by the signing up of former West Indies Test opener Gordon Greenidge for the next three years, to take them upto the 1999 World Cup in England.
``We have learnt a lot from him and we are still learning,'' said Akram.
Greenidge had a dream start as coach, helping Bangladesh become ICC trophy champions and qualifying for a place in the '99 World Cup.
Bangladesh who made their debut in the Asia Cup when it was held in Sri Lanka in 1986 have yet to record a single victory in ten matches played in the competition so far. Will 1997 be the year ?
The teams: PAKISTAN (from): Rameez Raja (captain), Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail, Shahid Afridi, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Salim Malik, Moin Khan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Aaqib Javed, Arshad Khan, Kabir Khan, Shahid Nazir, Hasan Raza, Mohammad Hussain.
BANGLADESH (from): Akram Khan (captain), Aminul Islam, Enamul Huq Moni, Minhajul Abedin, Athar Ali Khan, Islam Khan, Naimur Rahman, Khaled Mashud, Hasibul Hossain, Habibul Bashar, Shaikh Salahuddin, Zakir Hassan, Mafizur Rahman, Sahariar Hossain.
UMPIRES: B.C. Cooray (Sri Lanka) and S.K. Bansall (India).