COLOMBO: Bangladesh cricketer Sabbir Rahman (2L) and teammates stretch during a practice session at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Sri Lanka Wednesday. — AFP The Tigers will start their Nidahas Trophy campaign today (Thursday) taking on India at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka, reports UNB.
The T20I match of the tri-nation tournament, organised commemorating the 70th anniversary of Sri Lanka's independence, will begin at 7:30 pm Bangladesh time.
Rohit Sharma-led India started their campaign in the tournament losing to hosts Sri Lanka by five wickets in the opener on Tuesday.
Mahmudullah Riyad will captain the Tigers as their regular captain all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was earlier ruled out of the squad due to finger injury.
The Tigers will be guided by their interim Head Coach Courtney Walsh for the first time in an international event.
On Wednesday, Mahmudullah suggested that his fellows focus on what they can do well and there will not be any room for doubt when playing against India.
"There's no doubt among us. We'll have to focus on ourselves and that is what we're trying to do. If you go into this format with doubt, I don't think it'll do you any good," the skipper suggested.
"Although some experienced players are not playing for India in this tournament, still they're strong enough with the squad they have, due to experience in T20 format in IPL," said Mahmudullah.
Eying to a spot in the final, Bangladesh team reached Sri Lanka on Sunday (March 4) and warmed them up well with a 41-run win in the preparation match against Sri Lanka Cricket President XI on Tuesday.
In the practice match, Bangladesh scored 186/5 in 20 overs with Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah and Liton Kumar Das scoring 65, 43 and 40 runs respectively. The Tigers restricted their opponents to 145/10 in 19 overs where Rubel Hossain (2/19), Taskin Ahmed (2/22) and Nazmul Apu (1/3) shared five wickets.
Since June 2009, Bangladesh played five T20Is against India and lost on all the occasions.
Bangladesh Squad: Mahmudullah Riyad (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarker, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Abu Haider Rony, Abu Jahed Rahi, Ariful Haque, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Nazmul Islam Apu and Liton Kumar Das.
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj and Rishabh Pant.
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