England aiming to rekindle World Cup defence against Bangladesh

Tuesday 10 October, HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala

How to watch England v Bangladesh

While their respective opening encounters in the Cricket World Cup unfolded in contrasting fashions, England and Bangladesh will know that there is still a long way to go in this tournament.

Bangladesh would hope for an improved showing in their batting department. The side suffered an early wobble against Afghanistan before a 97-run stand between Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Najmul Hossain Shanto directed them towards a six-wicket win.

England would hope for an improved performance across all departments. They are also hit by the uncertainty around the availability of Ben Stokes. This would mean that the side would probably stick to the same batting combination. The onus will be on the playing XI to give the side a better start as compared to their run against New Zealand.

The sides have a fair idea of their competition, having faced each other in a World Cup warm-up fixture in Guwahati on 2 October. The teams featured in a 37-over contest. Bangladesh's 188/9 was overhauled by England in the 25th over.

**England:**Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.

**Bangladesh:**Shakib Al Hasan (c), Litton Kumer Das, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Najmul Hossain Shanto (vc), Tawhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nasum Ahmed, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.

England would know that if they are to do well in the ongoing Cricket World Cup, their spinners need to come to the party. Adil Rashid has 41 ODI wickets since the last World Cup, and England will look upon the leg-spinner to come good in this tournament as well.

Though he didn’t shine against New Zealand in Ahmedabad, Rashid will hope that the Dharamsala wicket, which assisted the Bangladesh tweakers, provides greater assistance to him.

While Mehidy Hasan Miraz took the Player of the Match for his wonderful half-century and three-wicket haul against Afghanistan in Bangladesh’s opening Cricket World Cup encounter, it was Shakib Al Hasan who delivered the first blows for the team.

Shakib (3/30) helped induce the Afghanistan slide with the crucial wickets of Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah.

Bangladesh would hope Shakib continues the same run against a much stronger England line-up, bringing in crucial breakthroughs at key stages of the game. With over 7000 ODI runs to his name, Shakib will also be an important contributor in the middle-order for Bangladesh.