India will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing loss to South Africa when they take on Bangladesh in their Super 12 encounter of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Adelaide on Wednesday.
Rohit Sharma's men got off to an excellent start, beating Pakistan and Netherlands in their first two matches. But they were outplayed in their last match against South Africa, despite Suryakumar Yadav's best efforts to rescue them with a very special knock.
The top-order collapsed in a similar way as it did against Pakistan. While Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya rescued them and helped India win that match, Yadav didn't find any support from the other end this time to get them to a competitive total.
The bowlers tried their best to make the most of the total they had to defend but the fielding made the job tougher for them, as simple catches were dropped and run outs were missed from only a few inches away. Even senior players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma missed great chances to put South Africa under pressure, and they will be eager to set a better precedent for their team in this upcoming contest against Bangladesh.
There is no denying the fact that India are a quality team, with a great mix of youth and experience, but things will get tricky for them if they end up botching this match against Bangladesh as well. India are second in Group 2 in terms of NRR at the moment and another win here will strengthen their chances of securing a semi-final berth. But a loss here will land them in grave danger of elimination. So, Rohit Sharma and his men need to pull their socks up and perform to their potential in this match.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, are sitting in third place in Group 2 with four points, the same as India. But their massive loss against South Africa has dealt a big blow to their NRR and now they need to ensure victories in both of their remaining matches to stand a chance of securing a semi-final berth.
They have won two matches so far but the victories haven't really looked convincing. The Tigers have won close contests against both Netherlands and Zimbabwe, with their bowlers doing the heavy lifting in both games. The batting unit hasn't been able to go past 150 in any match so far but a disciplined bowling effort has helped them in securing two victories by tight margins.
But the Bangladeshi batters will need to be at the top of their game if they want to give themselves a chance of winning against a side like India. A complete all-round effort is what they need to take a giant like India down and that's exactly what they will be looking to deliver.
Predicted Playing XIs
India
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Bangladesh
Najmul Hossain Shanto, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali, Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed
(t20worldcup)
