India v Bangladesh World T20 Preview - Match 25

With elimination all but confirmed, the sight of a familiar foe could rouse Bangladesh into lifting its game. Mustafizur showed that time away had blunted none of his cutting edge as he mixed up his lengths and pace beautifully, his brilliantly disguised cutters triggering panic in the Australian ranks. India has had more than one taste of the Mustafizur magic, and even though he is no longer the unknown quantity he was this time last year, he will brook careful watching by a top order that has thus far banked heavily – almost exclusively – on the incandescence ofVirat Kohli.

Dhoni’s wards have been far from at their best in this tournament to date. On tracks that have taken uninhibited stroke-making out of the equation and asked questions of both temperament and skill, India has struggled with the bat. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, attack-minded as they are, must customise their batting to meet the demands of the situation, because while there is a place for bravado, it cannot be at the expense of common sense and situational awareness. Kohli would, for a change, like to come in on the back of a solid start – the last time he had the luxury of a half-century opening stand was eight innings back – as would Suresh Raina, as much in need of meaningful time in the middle as anyone else.

The two strips used thus far haven’t played true to Chinnaswamy reputation. At a ground that has produced the maximum number of T20 sixes, well in excess of 800, batsmen have struggled to impose themselves with the ball gripping the surface, particularly in the second half of the game. India’s bowling has stood up to the test manfully thus far, and will be quietly confident of an encore. As for Bangladesh, which is playing in India for the first time since a tri-nation tournament in May 1998, it is a question of putting the recent past behind and flexing its not inconsiderable all-round muscle.

Teams (from)India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Pawan Negi, Harbhajan Singh, Mohammed Shami, Ajinkya Rahane.

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Shuvagata Hom, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Saqlain Sajib, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Mohammad Mithun, Nurul Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Abu Hider.

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