The ICC World Twenty20 gets underway on Sunday as eight nations in two groups begin their quest to reach the Super 10 stage and the chance to mix it with cricket's big guns.
Reigning champions West Indies warmed up for their title defence with a T20 series victory over England, while Asia Cup winners Sri Lanka are widely considered favourites.
Both sides would be wise not to ignore the threat posed by their rivals, with the likes of South Africa, Australia and Pakistan all vying for the title. But who will prevail and be crowned champions on April 6? Only time will tell.
Ahead of the tournament, Sport360° profiles each competing nation and offers our predictions, starting with the eight teams awaiting the winners of Groups A and B before analysung the outsiders looking to make an impact in Bangladesh.
GROUP 1
SRI LANKA
Captain: Dinesh Chandimal
Coach: Paul Farbrace
Twenty20 ranking: 1
Past record: 2009 Runners-up, 2010 Semis, 2012 Runners-up
T20I record: Matches played 60, Won 36, Lost 22, Tied 1, No Result 1, Winning percentage 56.65
Team: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Mahela Jayawardena, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis, Seekkuge Prasanna, Sachithra Senanayake.
Sport360 verdict: The favourites. Their build-up to the event has been perfect and haven’t lost anything since they landed in Bangladesh over a month ago.
ENGLAND
Captain: Stuart Broad
Coach: Ashley Giles
Twenty20 ranking: 8
Past record: 2007 Seventh, 2009 Sixth, 2010 Winners, 2012 Sixth
T20I record: Matches played 68, Won 32, Lost 32, No result 4, Winning percentage 50.00
Team: Michael Lumb, Alex Hales, Luke Wright, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Eoin Mor-gan, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach, Chris Jordan, Stephen Parry, James Tredwell.
Sport360 verdict: Lack the experience to make a dash for the title. Their batting doesn’t inspire confidence and the spin combination is too weak.
SOUTH AFRICA
Captain: Faf du Plessis
Coach: Ricardo Domingo
Twenty20 ranking: 3
Past record: 2007 Fifth, 2009 Semi-finalists, 2010 Sixth, 2012 Eighth
T20I record: Matches played 65, Won 39, Lost 25, No Result 1, Winning percentage 59.88
Team: Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Farhaan Behardien, JP Duminy, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Beuran Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Aaron Phangiso, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Sport360 verdict: The squad looks good on paper but their past record is a cause for concern. Should make the semi-finals from the group.
NEW ZEALAND
Captain: Brendon McCullum
Coach: Mike Hesson
Twenty20 ranking: 7
Past record: 2007 Semi-finalist, 2009 Fifth, 2010 Fifth, 2012 Seventh
T20I record: Matches played 71, Won 32, Lost 32, Tied 5, No Result 2, Winning percentage 45.71
Team: Martin Guptill, Luke Ronchi, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson, James Neesham, Colin Munro, Trent Boult, Anton Devcich, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Ronnie Hira, Mitchell McClenaghan.
Sport360 verdict: An exciting team loaded with multi-dimensional players but their efficacy on the slow Bangladesh pitches is doubtful.
GROUP 2
WEST INDIES
Captain: Darren Sammy
Coach: Otis Gibson
Twenty20 ranking: 5
Past record: 2007 Ninth, 2009 Semi-finalists, 2010 Seventh, 2012 Winners
T20I record: Matches played 58, Won 26, Lost 28, Tied 3, No Result 1, Winning percentage 44.84
Team: Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Andre Fletcher, Krishmar Santokie Samuel Badree, Sheldon Cottrell, Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell.
Sport360 verdict: The defending champions are placed in a tough group but they should back themselves for a semi-final spot.
INDIA
Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Coach: Duncan Fletcher
Twenty20 ranking: 2
Past record: 2007 Winners, 2009 Seventh, 2010 Eighth, 2012 Fifth
T20I record: Matches played 46, Won 25, Lost 19, Tied 1, No result 1, Winning percentage 54.34
Team: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Ra-hane, Yuvraj Singh, Stuart Binny, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Aaron, Mohammad Shami, Mohit Sharma.
Sport360 verdict: Derive their strength from a strong batting line-up but victories have eluded them in the build-up. Still look good for a semis spot.
PAKISTAN
Captain: Mohammad Hafeez
Coach: Moin Khan
Twenty20 ranking: 4
Past record: 2007 Runners-up, 2009 Winners, 2010 Semi-finalists, 2012 Semi-finalists
T20I record: Matches played 78, Won 47, Lost 29, Tied 2, Winning percentage 60.27
Team: Ahmed Shehzad, Sharjeel Khan, Kamran Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Bilawal Bhatti, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Talha.
Sport360 verdict: Another team that has a very good record in the tournament. But it is their unpredictability that could hurt their chances.
AUSTRALIA
Captain: George Bailey
Coach: Darren Lehmann
Twenty20 ranking: 6
Past record: 2007 Semi-finalist, 2009 Tenth, 2010 Runners-up, 2012 Semi-finalists
T20I record: Matches played 69, Won 36, Lost 30, Tied 2, No Result 1, Winning percentage 52.35
Team: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron White, Brad Hodge, Brad Haddin, James Faulkner, Daniel Christian, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Brad Hogg, James Muirhead, Mitchell Starc.
Sport360 verdict: The dark horses. They have the experience and possess some amazing players. They are also among the in-form teams.
Two teams from the first round, comprising Group A and Group B, will make it to the Super 10. The top team from Group B will join Group 1 and the winner of Group A will join Group 2.
Among the sides striving to reach the Super 10 stage is our very own UAE national team.
GROUP A
BANGLADESH
Captain: Mushfiqur Rahim Coach: Shane Jurgensen
Twenty20 ranking: 10
Past record: 2007 Eighth, 2009, 2010 and 2012 group stage
T20 record: Matches played 33, Won 9, Lost 24, Winning percent-age 27.32
Team: Tamim Iqbal, Shamsur Rahman, Anamul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Farhad Reza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Al-Amin Hossain, Mominul Haque, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Sohag Gazi.
Sport360 verdict: Face a stiff battle with Afghanistan for the Super 10 spot
AFGHANISTAN
Captain: Mohammad Nabi
Coach: Kabir Khan
Twenty20 ranking: 11
Past record: 2010 and 2012 group stage
T20 record: Matches played 22, Won 11, Lost 11, Winning percentage 50.00
Team: Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Hamid Hassan, Hamza Hotak, Karim Sadiq, Mirwais Ashraf, Najibullah Taraki, Najibullah Zadran, Nawroz Mangal, Samiullah Shenwari, Mohammad Shahzad, Shafiqullah, Shapoor Zadran.
Sport360 verdict: They can cause a few upsets.
NEPAL
Captain: Paras Khadka
Coach: Pubudu Dassanayake
Twenty20 ranking: None
Past record: None
T20 record: Yet to play a Twen-ty20 International
Team: Pradeep Airee, Prithu Basko-ta, Binod Bhandari, Naresh Budhaayer, Shakti Gauchan, Sompal Kami, Avinash Karn, Subash
Khakurel, Gyanendra Malla, Jitendra Mukhiya, Sagar Pun, Basant Regmi, Sharad Vesawkar, Rahul Vishwakarma.
Sport360 verdict: They have shown good progress under Dassanayake but will have to settle for the third spot in the group.
HONG KONG
Captain: Jamie Atkinson
Coach: Charlie Burke
Twenty20 ranking: None
Past record: None
T20 record: Yet to play a Twen-ty20 International
Team: Aizaz Khan, Mark Chapman, Ehsan Nawaz, Haseeb Amjad, Babar Hayat, Irfan Ahmed, Roy Lamsam, Munir Dar, Nadeem Ahmed, Najeeb Amar, Nizakat Khan, Kinchit Shah, Tanwir Afzal, Waqas Barkat.
Sport360 verdict: The two warm-up victories could be the only success they record in the tournament as they face a tough competition to stay afloat in the group.
GROUP B
ZIMBABWE
Captain: Brendan Taylor
Coach: Andy Waller
Twenty20 ranking: 14
Past record: 2007, 2010 and2012 group stage. DNP in 2009
T20 record: Matches played 28, Won 4, Lost 23, Tied 1, Winning percentage 14.28
Team: Hamilton Masakadza, Prosper Utseya, Elton Chigumbura, Sean Williams, Malcolm Waller, Vusi Sibanda, Sikander Raza Butt, Brian Vitori, Tendai Chatara, Natsai M’shangwe, Shingirai Masakadza, Timycen Maruma, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Tinashe Panyangara.
Sport360 verdict: Contenders for Super10.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Captain: Khurram Khan
Coach: Aaqib Javed
Twenty20 ranking: None
Past record: None
T20 record: Yet to play a Twenty20 International
Team: Ahmed Raza, Amjad Ali, Amjad Javed, Asadullah Shareef, Faizan Asif, Kamran Shahzad, Manjula Guruge, Moaaz Qazi, Rohan Mustafa, Swapnil Patil, Rohit Singh, Shadeep Silva, Shaiman Anwar, Vikrant Shetty.
Sport360 verdict: They have taken huge strides and have run Ireland close in their last few games. Have the potential to pull off a few sur-prises in the group.
IRELAND
Captain: William Porterfield
Coach: Phil Simmons
Twenty20 ranking: 9
Past record: 2009 Eighth, 2010 and 2012 group stage
T20 record: Matches played 34, Won 18, Lost 13, No result 3, Winning percentage 53.19
Team: Alex Cusack, George Dockrell, Ed Joyce, Andy McBrine, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Andrew Poynter, James Shannon, Max Sorensen, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Gary Wilson, Craig Young.
Sport360 verdict: Favourites to make the cut but their current form is a cause for worry.
NETHERLANDS
Captain: Peter Borren
Coach: Anton Roux
Twenty20 ranking: 12
Past record: 2009 group stage
T20 record: Matches played 22, Won 12, Lost 9, No result 1, Winning percentage 54.64
Team: Wesley Barresi, Logan van Beek, Mudassar Bukhari, Ben Cooper, Tim Gruijters, Timm van der Gugten, Tom Heggelman, Viv-ian Kingma, Ahsan Malik, Stephan Myburgh, Michael Rippon, Pieter Seelaar, Michael Swart, Eric Szwarczynski.
Sport360 verdict:Their recent results do not inspire much confidence.
