Bangladesh v India Preview: Hosts up against the favorites

Bangladesh will take on India in the first T20I of the Asia Cup T20 2016 at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday. The Indians will be looking to right the wrongs of the previous tour where they were greeted by fiery pacer Mustafizur Rahman and ended up losing their first series to Bangladesh.

Team News

Bangladesh

The Bangladesh bowling attack poses a threat to the Indians. With the likes of Taskin Ahmed and Mashrafe Mortaza supporting Mustafizur, the unit is certainly formidable. In addition, the Bangladeshis have made their home a fortress. Series wins over South Africa, Pakistan and India have gone on to illustrate the point.

The last time Bangladesh and India met in international cricket, a fiery Mustafizur Rahman made his debut with a five-wicket haul. That performance was followed up with a six-wicket haul in the very next game. The exclusion of Tamim Iqbal in the side, however, will go on to decrease the batting strength significantly.

India

In contrast to the Bangladeshis, the Indians have been in fantastic form of late. As the World T20 beckons, they will be hoping to carry the form they had shown previously against Australia and Sri Lanka. The Indians will be hoping for continuity from their previous series wins in a bid to build momentum for the upcoming tournament.

Mohammed Shami’s injury once again sees him sidelined for a considerable period. He has been replaced by Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. To compound the Indian management problems, MS Dhoni too faces the prospect of missing out on the game, final call on his fitness will be taken in the morning of the game. Parthiv Patel has been brought in as cover for the Indian skipper.

Playing XI (Probable)

Bangladesh:

Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (WK), Nurul Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Al-Amin Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman

India:

Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli*, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (C/wk)/ Parthiv Patel (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja

Stats that matter

1. The top spot in the run getters and wicket takers list in Asia Cup history belong to Sanath Jayasuriya (1220 runs) and Muttiah Muralitharan (30 wickets).

2. The Shre-e-Bangla stadium is a happy hunting ground for the Indians in T20Is. They have won 5 out of 6 matches at this venue.

3. From 25 T20Is played, teams batting second have won 12 times and teams batting first have won 13 times.

4. Al-Amin Hossain has taken the most number of wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla with 14 wickets in 8 matches. Virat Kohli, on the other hand, has scored 319 runs in T20Is at the same venue.