Preview: India eye a bounce-back win against Bangladesh

Super 12 Standings

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.

‘If you take those catches, it's a different thing’ - India rue Kohli, Rohit fielding errors

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.

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

Suryakumar Yadav: The middle-order batter has been in excellent form in this format ever since his debut last year. He has scores of 51* and 68 in the last two matches, and India will be backing him to deliver in this contest once again. Overall, Yadav has amassed 1179 T20I runs at an excellent average of 40.66 and a sensational strike rate of 177.03.

Taskin Ahmed: The pacer has played a key role in both of Bangladesh's victories in this tournament. Ahmed claimed figures of 4/25 and 3/19 against Netherlands and Zimbabwe respectively, and he will have a key role to play against India once again.

Captaincy Pick: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is enjoying a great run of form with the bat. The 33-year-old has struck 156 runs in three matches of the ongoing T20 World Cup at a strike rate of over 144. This year, Kohli has played 17 T20Is and has piled up 641 runs at an average of 53.41, including an unbeaten hundred against Afghanistan. In India’s T20 World Cup 2022 opener, the right-hander hammered 82 runs against Pakistan and stayed unbeaten to hand India a memorable win in the last-ball thriller.

Must-Have Pick: Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav is the top-ranked Indian in the ICC Men’s T20I Rankings for batters. The Mumbaikar has amassed 935 runs at an impeccable average of 42.5 and a jaw-dropping strike rate of 183.7 to be the highest run-scorer in T20Is this year. This includes as many as eight fifties and a century. In India’s Super 12 game against South Africa, Yadav accumulated 68 runs at a strike rate of 170 on a Perth pitch that was extremely tricky for batters.

Differential Pick: Soumya Sarkar

Soumya Sarkar was out for a two-ball duck against Zimbabwe in Bangladesh’s recent match. Moreover, the southpaw scored only 29 runs in the two T20 World Cup games he played prior to the match against Zimbabwe. Interestingly, Sarkar has played just five T20Is in 2022 and has managed to hit 56 runs at an average of 11.20. With the ball, the part-timer has picked up a couple of wickets this year. He hasn't been able to do anything special yet, but Sarkar has huge all-round potential, which makes him an excellent differential pick for this match.