India will look to bounce back from a defeat against England, their first of this campaign, with a strong display against Bangladesh. A win will put India in the semi-finals. For Bangladesh, it is a must win game to stay alive in the competition.
Imafe source — cricktracker.com
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Head to Head:-
India have a slender 2–1 over Bangladesh in World Cups
Image source — The daily star
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Predicted Teams:-
All the talk is on India’s continued middle order struggles. MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav’s tame knocks in the death and the lack of a sixth bowler will push India to play Jadeja. Also, Vijay Shankar is out of the tournament with a toe injury, with Mayank Agarwal being called up as his replacement. KL Rahul could not field due to a back injury but he is said to be fit to face Bangladesh.
Bangladesh have played as a unit throughout, with Shakib Al Hasan putting up some incredible individual displays aided by valuable contributions.
India:- Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli ©, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
Bangladesh:- Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Liton Das, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza ©, Mustafizur Rahman
Pitch and Conditions:-
The square used for this game will be the same one which was used for the India vs England game. This means that the surface will be very slow in the second innings and despite the short boundaries, hitting at the death will get tough. The surface might offer turn, prompting India to play three spinners. It is a bat-first wicket and the forecast predicts sunny skies.
Strategy:-
With Vijay Shankar ruled out, India desperately need a sixth bowler. Kedar Jadhav does not look good with the bat and has not bowled significantly. Ravindra Jadeja is a like-for-like replacement, who can bowl his full quota of overs if needed. India can send MS Dhoni at #4, ahead of Rishabh Pant. Dhoni needs time to settle and is good rotator of strike. Using Pant in a similar role to what Alex Carey does for Australia is a better bet. He can be the enforcer and enable the batsmen before him to take some degree of risks.
Bangladesh will look to their solid batting line-up to cover their bowlers’ shortcomings. In the past, Bangladesh have choked repeatedly under pressure when playing India. The vast experience of Tamim, Shakib and Mushfiqur will ensure that an encore does not take place.
India will have to read the surface well and take apt decisions. If they feel that the surface won’t suit the spinners, Jadeja will have to wait or replace either Chahal or Kuldeep.
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Key Battles:-
Hardik Pandya vs Shakib Al Hasan
Shakib is an excellent player of spin. Kohli will turn to Pandya to bowl short to Shakib, who has a weakness for short bowling. However, if Pandya does not get enough bounce, Shakib will use his trusted cuts to nullify the threat. This battle will be totally dependent on the pitch.
Mustafizur Rahman vs MS Dhoni
Dhoni will look to silence his critics with a fitting response. The fizz will use his cutters at the death to Dhoni and make him target the longer boundaries.
X-Factors:-
KL Rahul will look to get a big score and repeat what he did in the warm-up game against the same opponents.
Tamim Iqbal has looked good in patches, but hasn’t set the World Cup on fire. He will look to seize the initiative early on and provide a good start.
Originally published at Sporcial.
