In the 47th match of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, Asian neighbours India and Bangladesh will lock horns at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua.
While the form of openers Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli has been a cause for concern for Rahul Dravid’s men, the match against Bangladesh presents an ideal opportunity for the veteran duo to make a comeback in style on a ground that is suitable for batters as displayed by Australia, England, and South Africa earlier in the tournament.
What has happened so far?
These two teams have had very contrasting runs in the tournament so far. On one hand, we have India, who have been superb in all facets of the game. The Indians won three of their four matches in the group phase, while one match was washed out.
India started their journey with an 8-wicket win over Ireland, where they first bundled the Irishmen out for just 96 runs and then chased it down in 12.2 overs, by losing just two wickets.
Then in their second match against Pakistan, India’s batting fumbled as they scored only 119 runs, but a strong bowling show helped them get a 6-run win. Though not as convincingly as the match against Ireland, India defeated the United States of America in their third match. Chasing a target of 111 runs, they got a 7-wicket win with 10 balls to spare.
While India’s last group match against Canada was abandoned, they faced Afghanistan in their first match of the Super 8. Scoring 181 runs after batting first, India got the Afghans all out for just 134, hence getting a 47-run win.
On the other hand, Bangladesh has blown hot and cold so far winning three of their four matches in the group stage which were enough to take them to the Super 8, they were handed a defeat by Australia in their first match of this phase.
Bangladesh started their journey with a thrilling 2-wicket win over Sri Lanka, where they chased down a target of 125 runs in 19 overs. They did play well in spells in the second match against South Africa but ended up losing by 4 runs.
In their third match against the Netherlands, Najmul Hossain Shanto’s team got a 25-run win after restricting the Dutch to a score of 134 runs, in response to their 159. Then they defeated Nepal by 21 runs, but in a rain-affected Super 8 match against Australia, Bangladesh lost by 28 runs by the DLS method.
Head to Head Record
The head-to-head records are heavily in favour of the Indian team. India and Bangladesh have met 13 times in T20I cricket, where the men in blue have won 12 matches, while the Tigers were on the winning side only once.
The last meeting was at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year, where India defeated Bangladesh by 9 wickets. Tilak Varma scored a half-century for India in that fixture. Bangladesh’s only T20I win against India came in 2019, where Mushfiqur Rahim had played a match-winning knock.
Key Players
Jasprit Bumrah has proven to be unplayable
Jasprit Bumrah (India): While Arshdeep Singh is India’s highest wicket-taker in this tournament, Jasprit Bumrah has been absolutely unplayable. The pacer has picked up 8 wickets in 4 matches, but more importantly, he has an average of 6.50 and an economy rate of 3.46.
Bumrah started off with a spell of 2/6 against Ireland and then followed it up with a three-wicket haul against Pakistan. He had a rare off-day against the USA but returned to form with three wickets against Afghanistan.
Tanzim Hasan Sakib (Bangladesh): While it is a highly experienced campaigner who has been delivering the goods with the ball for India, the scenario is exactly the opposite in Bangladesh’s case, as their leader with the ball has been the young sensation Tanzim Hasan Sakib.
In 5 matches, he has picked up 9 wickets at an average of 9 and an economy rate of 5.06. Sakib picked up only 1 wicket in the match against Sri Lanka but then got 3 wickets against South Africa.
After another 1-wicket game against the Netherlands, he was outstanding against Nepal, picking up 4 wickets. While he could not pick any wickets against Australia, it was mainly because he bowled just 1 over and also had David Warner’s catch dropped off his bowling.
Predicted XIs
India: Rohit Sharma ©, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh.
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Litton Das (wk), Najmul Hossain Shanto ©, Shakib Al Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman.
Prediction
Bangladesh can be proud to have made it this far in this tournament after the horror series against the USA, but it is very likely that they will find themselves out of their depth against India. Beyond any doubt, Rohit Sharma’s team will start as favorites.