India and Bangladesh meet in their second match of the Super Four stage of the ongoing Asia Cup. The match took place at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday, September 24. India have been unbeaten so far in this tournament, and come into this match on the back of a stunning six-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan. Bangladesh won their previous game by four wickets against Sri Lanka. The winner of this encounter will most certainly be through to the final of this tournament.
India have been the team to beat in this tournament, given how comprehensive their performances have been across all three departments: batting, bowling and fielding. They are are lead by Suryakumar Yadav, who plays for Mumbai in domestic cricket and the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. The Men in Blue have been a batting powerhouse who have not shied away in front of the wicket whatsoever. The shots some of their players have displayed in this tournament act as a reminder as to why they are the current world champions.
Bangladesh have done reasonably well so far, even though they have not been undefeated. They were earlier beaten by Sri Lanka in the group stage of this tourney. Yet, a better run-rate managed to take them into the Super Fours over the other contenders, Afghanistan. As always, Bangladesh have managed to rely a lot on spin. The pitches they have played on have proved to be conducive to this approach. Captain Litton Das reportedly felt a bit of discomfort on his side while batting in the nets before this match. Das will hope that he can field a full-strength squad to take on a rampaging India.
Predicted teams
IND: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy.
BAN: Saif Hassan, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Litton Das (c & wk), Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Jaker Ali, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman.
Key Players
Abhishek Sharma (IND): Opener Abhishek Sharma comes into this game on the back of a stunning 74 he creamed against Pakistan. In that outing, he was responsible for almost single-handedly destroying the Pakistani bowling unit and tearing into them whenever they bowled short or pitched the ball wide of the crease. Sharma will look to do the same against Bangladesh. He will aim to get his team off to a good start by making use of the fielding restrictions inside the powerplay.
Saif Hassan (BAN): Opener Saif Hassan played a mature knock of 61 off just 45 deliveries against Sri Lanka. He will now try to replicate a similar performance against India. Hassan is a batter who can rotate the strike well and take on the Indian spinners. This is not something others have been able to do fairly easily in this tournament. A lot will rest on Hassan if Bangladesh are chasing a target in this fixture, since they will need him to get them off to a flyer.
Match Prediction
It does not look like any team can stop India in this tournament, although Bangladesh may well give it a try. The Bangla Tigers have not been very successful in their pace bowling department in this tourney, save a few good performances from Mustafizur Rahman. This is where the Indians are most expected to exploit them. Yadav’s men like to go hard inside the powerplay, and Bangladesh must be prepared for an onslaught at the hands of openers Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill. The latter, India’s Test captain, has proved his credentials as a worthy T20 batter in this tournament, most notably thanks to a quickfire 47 against Pakistan.
