Dhaka: Captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul are back in the Indian side as the Men In Blue brace themselves for the Bangladesh challenge in the ODI series opener on Sunday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) in Mirpur, Dhaka.
India will be playing Bangladesh in a three-match ODI series. Dhaka will host the remaining two matches as well on December 7 and 10. The ODIs against Bangladesh will also mark the re-uniting of Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli as the top three.
Since the 2019 World Cup, the trio have featured in just 12 ODIs together. It remains to be seen if the opening pair of Rohit and Dhawan will be able to give India an aggressive start in the first ten overs and whether Kohli can carry his sizzling T20I form into a format where he has been a master of acing chases.
The focus will also be on India’s middle-order, especially on who will bat at four, five and six. Rahul had established himself in the middle-order through stellar performances, and Shreyas Iyer has been consistently impressive in whatever opportunities he has got in absence of star-studded players in the format.
Rishabh Pant offers a left-handed option in the middle-order, but even his ardent fans will agree that he has to get the big runs against Bangladesh to keep himself in the reckoning, especially with contenders like Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson (who is not a part of this series).
In terms of bowlers, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar are the favourites for the spin combination. As far as fast-bowling is concerned, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, and Umran Malik are in the mix.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, will be without regular ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal due to a groin injury, and Taskin Ahmed, due to reoccurrence of a back injury. With an experienced opener and pacer gone, stand-in captain Litton Das will have to get the best out of the resources he has.
Litton, who sparkled with 63 against India in T20 World Cup in Adelaide, will need senior players like Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah to step up in their roles.
In the fast-bowling department, left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who was the breakout star with 13 wickets to give Bangladesh a memorable ODI series win over India in 2015, will be the leader of the bowling attack with Hasan Mahmud and Ebadot Hossain.
Head-To-Head
India have so far won 30 ODIs out of 36 played against Bangladesh. The Bangla Tigers won five while one game ended in no result.
When And Where To Watch Bangladesh vs India, 1st ODI live in India?
The first ODI between Bangladesh and India will be broadcasted live on Sony Sports Channels in India from 11:30 AM IST.
Where To Watch Live Streaming Of Bangladesh vs India, 1st ODI?
Live streaming of the first ODI between Bangladesh and India will be available on SonyLiv app across all apple and android devices.
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Shahbaz Ahmed, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, and Umran Malik.
Bangladesh: Litton Kumer Das (captain), Anamul Haque Bijoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Nasum Ahmed, Mahmud Ullah, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Quazi Nurul Hasan Sohan, and Shoriful Islam.
(With IANS Inputs)
