'Want to be champs'

All of the focus will be on young Azmir Ahmed as Bangladesh begin their Emerging Teams Asia Cup campaign against Hong Kong at the Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium in Cox's Bazar today.

The little-known 21-year-old has hogged the spotlight before the tournament because of his scoring ability, but the selectors will also be looking at how other youngsters and players like Mominul Haque and Nasir Hossain take their opportunity in the eight-team competition.

Eight Under-23 teams, divided into two groups, will be participating. India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Malaysia have been drafted into Group A while Group B comprises Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Pakistan and Nepal.

With all of the focus centred on the Tigers' tour of Sri Lanka, selector and Bangladesh team manager Habibul Bashar believe that the tournament, which will be held in Chittagong and Cox's Bazar, will be a very interesting one.

Captain Mominul Haque echoned Bashar's sentiments and said that the home side were looking to become champions.

"Our target is to become champions. Whenever you play for your country, it creates an opportunity for a player to show his calibre. I think it will be an interesting tournament. Individually, everybody will try to give their best because the Champions Trophy is coming," said Mominul, who last played an ODI in February 2015 in an ICC World Cup match against Sri Lanka in Melbourne.

"We have little idea about our opponents, but I think it will not be a big problem at all," he added.

Bashar seemed to agree with Mominul.

"We play our first match against Hong Kong and although we have little idea about them, we will get the opportunity to assess other teams' strength once the tournament gets underway. It's true that if our national team was not in action this tournament would get much more exposure, but we are looking forward to a quality tournament as all the associate members, including Afghanistan, are sending full-strength sides."

"We will definitely look to the young players and how they capitalise on this opportunity but we will also keep an eye on players like Mominul [Haque] and Nasir [Hossain].  It's a good tournament for the young players to get international exposure and I am hopeful that they will play good cricket and achieve good results," Bashar concluded.