After enduring their first defeat of the ongoing World Cup on Sunday, team India would like to recalculate their winning combination in their penultimate league clash against Bangladesh. Both Kedar Jadhav and Yuzvendra Chahal, who had a poor match against England, are likely to be dropped from the playing XI as India aim for a quick turnaround.
Despite going down by 31 runs against England, India are placed comfortably in the second spot on the points table and have 11 points from seven matches. Bangladesh, on the other hand, are riding on Shakib-al-Hasan’s impressive run and are still in the hunt to make their maiden entry into the semi-finals of the showpiece event. However, in order to do so, Bangladesh has to win both their remaining fixtures against India and Pakistan.
OVERVIEW
BANGLADESH
Coach: Steve Rhodes
Captain: Mashrafe Mortaza
It has been over a week since Bangladesh played their last match where Shakib Al Hasan inspired them to victory over Afghanistan by 62 runs, but now they face the ultimate test in India in a match they simply have to win to have any chance of reaching the semi-finals.
The key to victory in this game for Bangladesh will be trying to improve their bowling in order to restrict India as that has been their weakness in the tournament so far. A week-long break should enable skipper Mashrafe Mortaza to recover from his troublesome injuries.
The team is very likely to be unchanged for this match if Mahmudullah can shake off a calf injury. They will be relying heavily once again on star all-rounder Shakib to produce more magic and give them a chance, while they will need their batsmen to continue their excellent form shown far in the tournament.
INDIA
Coach: Ravi Shastri
Captain: Virat Kohli
India fell 31 runs short of England’s total of 337/7 on Sunday as they suffered their first defeat of the tournament so far and they will want to get back to winning ways here.
Rishabh Pant came into the team somewhat unexpectedly in that match for his first game of the tournament and Vijay Shankar is now expected to miss the remainder of the tournament with a troublesome toe problem so Pant could get an extended run in the team now.
Mohammed Shami’s sparkling form continued in that game as his five-wicket haul took him to 13 wickets in three matches played, so he will surely keep his place, but they could decide to give Jadeja an opportunity and rest Kuldeep Yadav or Yuzvendra Chahal.
KEY PLAYERS
For India key players would be Man in form Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah While for Bangladesh Shakib Al Hasan will be the Main factor.
HEAD TO HEAD RECORD
India and Bangladesh have met 3 times in World cup and India leads the Duel with 2 wins.
India's only defeat against Bangladesh in World Cups came in 2007.
PREDICTION
India’s defeat to England on Sunday may well spell bad news for Bangladesh here who need to get a win here to stay alive in the tournament, but they are unlikely to receive any favours from Virat Kohli’s men. India will not be too upset by the defeat on Sunday but they will be desperate not to suffer back-to-back defeats. Bangladesh have shown they can compete with anybody at this World Cup but they will have to be at their very best here. Their best chance is to bat first and to put up a total of over 300 and then try and create some pressure on India but it is a tough ask and Kohli and company should have the motivation to get back to winning ways.
By: Rachit Rawat