DAMBULLA (Sri Lanka), May 1: The fourth edition of the women’s Asia Cup gets underway in the Dambulla and Kurunegala on Friday and for India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan this will be their first competitive tournament in preparation of the World Cup in Australia in 2009.

New entrants Bangladesh, meanwhile, will be hoping they put on a decent performance.

India, who have won all three editions of the tournament so far without dropping a game, are favourites and Pakistan and Sri Lanka are eager to end their domination

“We have a strong batting and fielding department and the team comprises six all-rounders,” Shashikala Siriwardene, the Sri Lanka captain, said. “Our final target is to qualify for the Asia Cup final and win it.”

Bismah Maroof, the young Pakistan opener, expected to beat Sri Lanka and give India some good matches.

Jhulan Goswami, the Indian fast bowler who was named ICC Women’s Player of the Year, said she hoped the Asia Cup would give the younger players the confidence to play at the international level. “This is a great opportunity to be the four-time champions,” said Goswami, who needs four wickets to reach 100 wickets in ODIs. “It’s our first tournament after the Quandrangular Series last year and we are going to approach the World Cup step by step from now on.”

These three teams will use the tournament to gauge their Asian opposition at the World Cup and also take the chance to fix their own squads. India have gone with several Under-22 players, dropping 30-year-old batsman Anjum Chopra.

Chopra, who won a prestigious civilian award in India last year, has been in poor form for a while now, averaging 27.45 since January 2006.

But the selectors have also recalled 30-year old left-arm spinner Neetu David, who had announced her retirement from international cricket two years ago. David has been brought in to replace younger spinner Preeti Dimri.

Pakistan meanwhile retained most of the squad from the World Cup qualifiers, where they were beaten by hosts South Africa in the final. They dropped Nida Dar, who did not feature in any of the games in South Africa. Yet other newcomers, Shumaila Mushtaq, Almas Akram, Javeria Khan, have been given a chance to prove themselves in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka haven’t played an international since the previous edition of the Asia Cup in December 2006. Seven from the current squad of 14 featured in that tournament in Jaipur.

Bangladesh, who qualified for the tournament after winning the Asian Cricket Council tournament in Malaysia last August, have dropped Tajikia Akhter, who led them to victory, and have appointed Salma Khatun as captain instead. For them the tournament will be an opportunity to move up the ICC rankings, for right now none of their matches are official ODIs since they are not among the top ten sides.

The Asia Cup is a high point in the subcontinent teams’ calendar but the four sides will be mostly just relieved there is some cricket to play.

Schedule:

May 2: Sri Lanka v Pakistan (Dambulla); India v Bangladesh (Kurunegala).

May 3: Sri Lanka v India (Dambulla); Pakistan v Bangladesh (Kurunegala).

May 5: India v Pakistan (Kurunegala); Sri Lanka v Bangladesh (Dambulla).

May 6: Sri Lanka v Pakistan (Dambulla); Bangladesh v India (Kurunegala).

May 8: Sri Lanka v India (Kurunegala); Bangladesh v Pakistan (Dambulla).

May 9: India v Pakistan (Dambulla); Sri Lanka v Bangladesh (Kurunegala).

May 11: Final (Kurunegala).

—Agencies