Bangladesh and India will play their fourth match today with different expectations in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup when they face each other at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
India, who won their last three matches in a row, will play the match to cement the mounting expectations of thousands of cricket-crazed people with keeping up the winning streak.
On the other hand, Bangladesh after losing two of the three matches they played, now their only objective will be to bounce back to the winning way, as they are almost out of the race to move into the semifinal.
But it will be more than tough to win the match against the high flying India, who whipped out all their three previous opponents and turned into an indomitable side.
Tigers, who have only inspiration before playing today’s match is, in the last four matches between the two sides since the 2019 World Cup, Bangladesh won three, including an Asia Cup game in Sri Lanka just ahead of the World Cup.
But this Indian team is a different one, and with the form they are in at the moment, it will be a difficult task for the Tigers to overcome the India challenges this time.
In the World Cup, Bangladesh and India met four times with India winning three.
So, Bangladesh will have to play with maintaining a frugal approach and will likely try to restore their lost balance.
India on a roll with three tremendous wins out of their first three matches, currently sitting on top of the points table, are highly boosted up. India not only won the game with stellar performances but also established several records with Rohit Sharma smashing the record for an Indian player’s fastest century in a World Cup match.
But Bangladesh have not yet any encouraging momentum from their last three matches, but a clinical victory over Afghanistan, and have faltered in their last two matches, so they are in desperate need to turn things around today. Tigers will have to go carefully mapping the steps from the beginning of the match.
The biggest issue of Bangladesh remains over-reliance on the top order batters including the openers, who have been continuously failing to pile up solid foundation in the opening stand.
Before facing each other, India and Bangladesh have played 40 ODIs - with India winning 31 matches out of them and Tigers have only eight victories.
Bangladesh notably defeated India in the ICC World Cup 2007, their last victory over the Men in Blue in an ICC event.
India are in excellent form at the moment, after thrashing Australia and Pakistan, feeling extremely confident and looking formidable in this tournament.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, are under pressure and they have been decent in strengthening, but have failed to be consistent enough to capitalize the drives.
The probable team of Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Litton Das, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Najmul Hossain Shanto (vc), Tawhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud or Shoriful Islam.
