India will lock horns against neighboring rivals, Bangladesh on Thursday in the 17th ODI of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
The Indian cricket team is among the three unbeaten sides in the World Cup while Bangladesh has only managed to grasp a single victory. Under Shakib Al Hasan’s captaincy, the Tigers will be looking forward to defeating the Indian team to stay in the race for the top four spots.
On the other side, Rohit Sharma‘s Men in Blue will be looking forward to extending their winning streak to four and increasing their chances of a comfortable qualification into the semi-finals.
What have they done so far?
The Indian cricket team has been performing consistently well in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup. India locked horns against Australia in their inaugural match and managed to win the game comfortably. Reliable innings from KL Rahul (97) and Virat Kohli (85) were enough to relinquish the Australian hopes.
In the second match, the Men in Blue faced Afghanistan, who managed to score 272 against the Indian bowling line-up. Jasprit Bumrah took four wickets with an economy rate of almost 3.9 while Mohammad Siraj was targeted by Afghanistan, who conceded 76 runs. However, Rohit Sharma’s century gave India a perfect start while the finishing touches were added by Virat Kohli with his half-century.
In the third match, India took down their furious arch-rivals, Pakistan at the largest cricket stadium in the world, Narendra Modi Stadium. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan looked decent in the game, however, as they were dismissed by Siraj and Bumrah, the whole Pakistani batting line-up collapsed dramatically posting a target of 192 runs, which was easily chased by the Indian team with half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer.
Mehidy and Shakib caused the downfall of Afghanistan batters
On the other side, Bangladesh started their ICC World Cup campaign with a win over Afghanistan. Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan’s spin bowling turned out to be unanswerable for the Afghani batters as they took three wickets each. Chasing 157, Bangladesh won the match in the 35th over.
Playing against England in the second match, Dawid Malan’s 140-run inning helped the Poms reach a massive total of 364. During the chase, only Litton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim scored half-centuries. Nevertheless, the efforts were not enough to crown Bangladesh as the winners against the defending World Champions as England won the match by 137 runs.
Bangladesh’s third match in the ICC Cricket World Cup also ended as a loss, they played against New Zealand. Shakib Al Hasan’s side posted a total of 245 against New Zealand. Kane Williamson made his return in the World Cup against the Tigers and he also played a 79-run inning before getting retired hurt. With the loss of only two wickets, New Zealand won the match in the 43rd over.
Head-to-Head Record
India and Bangladesh have locked horns against each other on a total of 40 occasions. The Men in Blue have been dominant in the neighboring rivalry as they have recorded 31 wins. On the other hand, Bangladesh has only won eight matches.
Their World Cup fixture will be taking place in India, and the Tigers are yet to win a match against the Men in Blue in the Sub-continent. Bangladesh have lost all 18 matches against the Men in Blue which they have placed in India.
However, Bangladesh will be sailing high on the victory they recorded against the Men in Blue in the Asia Cup, last month. After India secured a place in the final, Rahul Dravid decided to rest the likes of Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammad Siraj against the Tigers.
Shubman Gill scored a magnificent century and Axar Patel also played a vital inning, where he suffered a couple of injuries, which eventually ruled him out of the World Cup. Consequently, with a reliable performance from Mustafizur Rahman in the death overs, Bangladesh managed to win the game by six runs.
Key Players
Rohit Sharma (India): The India captain went back to the pavilion for a duck against Australia. However, since then, he has been in astounding form. From thrashing Afghanistan’s hopes of a potential win to slightly missing a much-deserved century against Pakistan, the Hitman has emerged as an indomitable force in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Rohit Sharma has scored a total of 217 runs in the ongoing mega-fest of cricket, he’s also the leading Indian run scorer ahead of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, with an average of 72. The Mumbai Indians Skipper also became the player with the most centuries in the ICC Cricket World Cup after he scored a ton against Afghanistan.
Rohit Sharma has been breaking records left and right in the last few matches
Sharma (7), left behind the likes of cricketing icons such as Sachin Tendulkar (6), Kumar Sangakkara (5), and Ricky Ponting (5) in the record. Hence, considering his current form, the Indian skipper can be the biggest threat to Shakib Al Hasan’s side in their fourth match of the tournament.
Mushfiqur Rahim (Bangladesh): Bangladesh has been constantly failing to impress on the big stage as the ongoing World Cup will be the last campaign of many of their veteran players. Taking a look at their bowling line-up, Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan gave a praiseworthy performance against Afghanistan. However, they later got lost in the light of other nations.
If we analyze the batting order of the Tigers, Mushfiqur Rahim is a name that stands out. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored a solid half-century against England when the whole Bangladeshi batting order was collapsing.
Rahim then scored 66 runs off 75 deliveries against New Zealand in the middle overs, where Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry were bowling regular overs. Hence, with support from other batters, Rahim can help the Tigers give tough competition to the Men in Blue.
Predicted XIs
India: Rohit Sharma ©) Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan ©, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mehidy Hasan, Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman
Prediction
After Afghanistan defeated England by a considerable margin, a further layer of excitement and astonishment has been added in the ICC Cricket World Cup and Bangladesh can also upset any major nation on their day.
However, against India on their home soil, it’s a long vertical mountain to climb and the Men in Blue are expected to add another win to their unbeaten streak.