DHAKA, June 9: With the euphoria of Indian Premier League all but settled, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team will have to quickly get back into the one-day mode to snap Pakistan’s 12-match winning streak when the traditional rivals face off in the tri-series here on Tuesday.

Pakistan routed Bangladesh by 70 runs in the tri-series opener on Sunday night to extend their unbeaten streak to 12 matches and it would be a tough task for Dhoni’s young Indian side to halt the archrivals.

Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson already sounded the war bugle when he said that his wards would look to thump India by a bigger margin to make it 13 wins in a row.

India, severely under-strength because of pre-tournament injury woes, would be in for further trouble as opener Virender Sehwag is a doubtful starter due to high fever.

Besides, the team is still awaiting the arrival of pacer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth’s replacement Manpreet Singh Gony.

With seniors like Sachin Tendulkar, recovering from a groin injury, and Harbhajan Singh, serving a ban for slapping Sreesanth during the IPL, not in the ranks, it would be anything but easy for Dhoni’s young brigade against Pakistan.

The team had a feel of the ground and the conditions on Sunday and put in three hours at the indoor nets after rain prevented any outdoor practice session.

The short tri-series, being seen as a warm-up for the Asia Cup later this month in Pakistan, is crucial for the Indians as it provides an opportunity for players like all-rounder Yusuf Pathan, spinner Piyush Chawla and Gony to show their worth in absence of the seniors.

With the pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium likely to assist the batsmen, India’s new-look bowling attack, to be spearheaded by Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma, will be severely tested.

No doubt, the Indian team has the batting strength to score heavily on a strip like this but it remains to be seen how their bowlers contain hard hitters like Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf.

The much-anticipated contest meanwhile faces a major threat from the inclement weather. The opener itself was truncated because of intermittent drizzle and this match too could see rain interruptions.

As for the Pakistani attack, medium pacers, particularly young talent Wahab Riaz, were impressive in last night’s win over Bangladesh. But with Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif missing from the attack, it remains to be seen how Sohail Tanvir and his bowling colleagues fare against India’s star-studded line-up.

In the batting department, though Salman, Yousuf and Misbah looked in good nick, Pakistan’s line-up still sports a vulnerable look and even Bangladesh, with their limited options in the bowling department, shot them out in 39.3 overs.

Meanwhile, Indian coach Gary Kirsten said he’d given his team enough time to readjust to limited-overs cricket after the Twenty20 league and was promising a much more difficult assignment for Pakistan than their tri-series opening match against Bangladesh.

“India and Pakistan matches are always electrifying. But our players are totally motivated, and the intensity is there to continue the good form in one-day cricket,” Kirsten said on Monday.

Kirsten said the squad was familiar with the playing conditions in the Bangladesh capital, and “were fit and firing to play the match.”

Kirsten, a former South Africa Test batsman, has focussed on getting the India squad back to thinking about batting and bowling for 50 overs after the Indian Premier League.

“They have a different game plan and design. So, it will not be a big problem to adjust from Twenty20 cricket,” Kirsten said.

The series final is scheduled for Saturday.

Teams (from):

INDIA: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar.