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Mohammad Isam on Bangladesh’s absentee
A Shakib-sized hole for Bangladesh
“And it’s a big one. Wickets, runs, experience and leadership. All goes out of the window. Shakib hasn’t recovered in time from the quadricep injury that he sustained on October 13 in Chennai against New Zealand. He pulled the muscle while batting, although he bowled ten overs subsequently so the team management was hopeful that he would recover in time. He hasn’t.
“Nasum Ahmed has replaced Shakib but his absence throws out Bangladesh’s balance. It will put greater importance on Mushfiqur Rahim’s wicket, as he is now likely to bat higher up the order. Already without Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh’s experience drainage gets larger now that Shakib is also not there against India.”
Bangladesh win the toss and bat
Shanto wins the toss and chooses to bat, and it appears to be his quad injury that has flared up again. “We have some great memories against India, so hopefully we continue our form. I hope it will be a great match. As a player we love to see the crowd, hopefully that will be supporting the team.” Shakib and Taskin are out, Hasan Mahmud and Nasum Ahmed are in
Rohit says he would have bowled first. “In this World Cup, keeping everyone in a good space is the biggest challenge, and you’re moving from one place to another. We’re enjoying our cricket and want to continue the momentum.” Same team confirmed for India.
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Mohammed Siraj
Bangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Litton Das, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 4 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 5 Towhid Hridoy, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Mahmudullah, 8 Nasum Ahmed, 9 Hasan Mahmud, 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
No Shakib for Bangladesh!
We’ve not yet had the toss, and there’s already a huge blow for Bangladesh, with Shakib Al Hasan sitting this match out. We’ll learn more soon. Najmul Hossain Shanto is getting ready to lead the team in his absence.
That leaves Mushfiqur Rahim as the only veteran of that 2007 World Cup clash. Bangladesh will be lacking the small matter of 7439 ODI runs and 313 wickets. Big loss.
Asia’s red-hot rivalry arrives in Pune
Welcome to Match #17 of the 2023 World Cup. It’s India vs Bangladesh at Pune, and while the hosts go into this contest as clear favourites after their flying start to the tournament, there’s nothing quite like this rivalry to raise the temperature at present. Bangladesh have won three of their last four ODIs against India, including at the Asia Cup last month, but incredibly this will be their first ODI against India in India since 1998. If that prospect doesn’t offer a bit of extra incentive to the visitors, then nothing will.
The two teams are currently sitting at opposite ends of the World Cup table, but as Afghanistan and the Netherlands have been reminding us in recent days, nothing’s set in stone just yet. And, as India will doubtless recall from their epochal clash with Bangladesh at Port-of-Spain in 2007, if you lose your focus in this competition, things can go south very quickly.
How did the India-Bangladesh rivalry heat up?
