Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has revealed that Bangladesh can play without pressure as they are not the favourites for the clash. The Tigers lost both their round-robin games against India and had to win both their games against Sri Lanka to reach the final.

Jayawardene, meanwhile, believes that the Indian team have strength in depth and are superior to Bangladesh in the bowling department. He is, however, also adamant that it is all about which team handles the pressure better.

“Bangladesh have nothing to lose and everything to gain against India. They can enjoy being the underdogs after two round-robin stage defeats and attack India without the pressure of expectation,” Jayawardene told Times of India.

“India may be missing some of their top senior players, but they have already shown that they have great depth of talent right now in all departments.”

“They have a clear advantage in terms of their pace bowling against Bangladesh, but in terms of batting things are more evenly balanced. Bangladesh have the experience in their top order to do some damage. At the end of the day, as is so often the case with T20 cricket, it will probably come down to who handles the pressure the best and is able to best navigate themselves through the key moments in the game.”

When asked about the incident regarding the no-ball in the last game, the former right-handed batsman insisted that the umpires were at fault for not awarding it a no-ball, but that the reaction of the Bangladeshi players was not commendable at all.

“The final-over fracas should certainly have been handled better. From a neutral perspective, it was definitely a no-ball and the umpires made a mistake. They then made matters worse by not taking charge of the situation and diffusing the tension with effective communication.”

“Having said that, the reactions of the players, including the threats by Bangladesh to leave the field of play, are not the kind of thing you want young cricket fans to see. Emotions were understandably running high, but players have a larger responsibility to the game.”

He also mentioned that host nation—Sri Lanka, did not deserve to be in the final after three straight losses.

“The elimination of hosts Sri Lanka from this Nidahas Trophy has obviously caused a lot of local disappointment. However, sadly, the truth is that Sri Lanka don’t deserve to be in the final after three straight defeats. India have been extremely impressive after their wobbly start and Bangladesh have battled really hard and shown their experience at critical times.”