Tigers face India in World Cup game today

FE Team | Published: October 18, 2023 23:23:07

Bangladesh will take on mighty India in their fourth game of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup at Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune today (Thursday), report agencies.
The match will start at 2.30 pm (Bangladesh Time).
The Tigers began World Cup mission with a six-wicket win over Afghanistan but tasted crushing 137-run and eight-wicket defeat to England and New Zealand respectively in the last two matches.
India in contrast are flying high, winning their firs three matches quite convincingly. They began the mission with a six-wicket win over Australia before beating Afghanistan by eight wickets and archrivals Pakistan by seven wickets.
On paper and considering recent performance India are favourite to win the game but Bangladesh will be oozed with confidence due to their recent dominance against the sub-continent rivals.
In the last four matches between the two sides, Bangladesh won three, including an Asia Cup game in Sri Lanka just ahead of the World Cup. The two sides in fact met only four times after the 2019 World Cup.
Since their landmark victory in 2007 World Cup against India, Bangladesh became highly charged up when they meet India in any game in any part of the World. It's not that they won all of the matches but somehow they were able to panic India by pushing them vehemently in every matches.In World Cup, the two teams met four times with India winning three. After 2007 World Cup, which gave the birth of Bangladesh's cricketing stars like Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh could never beat India in this showcase event.
However, it is believed their recent dominance and rivalry against India would help Bangladesh to bring out their best against the World Cup hosts as they are trying to bounce back into the winning way.
The two teams played 40 matches, so far, with Bangladesh winning eight and losing 31. One match ended in a no result.
Bangladesh will be boosted by the return of captain Shakib Al Hasan in the net after he suffered a slight quad tear during the match against New Zealand. He batted 45 minutes in the net just two days ahead of the India game to hint that he will be fully fit on match day.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan is to have a fitness test just hours before today (Thursday)'s World Cup match against in-form tournament hosts India in Pune.
The star all-rounder is battling to overcome a thigh injury he suffered during Friday's eight-wicket loss to New Zealand in Chennai.
Shakib scored 40 with the bat and the spinner completed his bowling quota of 10 overs in a return of 1-54 before hobbling off the field.
"He had a good batting session yesterday," Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha told a pre-match press conference in Pune on Wednesday. "He did a bit of running between the wickets as well.
"We are waiting for the result of the scan we did today (Wednesday).
"We haven't tried his bowling yet. We will assess him tomorrow morning, and make a decision."
The former Sri Lanka batsman added: "If he is not ready to play, we won't risk it. If he is ready, there's a chance of him playing."
With Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam and even the rookie Tanzid Hasan Sakib always finding India particularly to their likings, Bangladesh hoped they would serve their best in today (Thursday)'s match.
Meanwhile, the return of India "top-gun" Jasprit Bumrah for the World Cup could not come soon enough for bowling coach Paras Mhambrey as he hailed the paceman's strong start to the hosts' campaign.
India have won all three of their opening games, with the 29-year-old Bumrah taking eight wickets at a meagre average of just over 10 apiece.
Mhambrey added India had yet to consider "rotation" as they look to maintain their unbeaten start in a quest to win a third one-day international World Cup title and second on home soil following their 2011 triumph.
They defeated India by six runs when the teams met in the Asia Cup in Colombo last month, with Mhambrey, highlighting the quality of Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed and "champion" all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan
Squads: Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Liton Das, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Najmul Hossain Shanto (vc), Tawhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nasum Ahmed, Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya (Vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav.