India vs Bangladesh – 1st T20I – Preview and Predicted XI

After a successful home Test series against South Africa, India will now shift the focus on the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh. 

The three-match T20I series starts on Sunday in Delhi. There were questions over the first T20I due to the pollution in Delhi but BCCI’s newly appointed president Sourav Ganguly said that the match will go ahead as scheduled. The next couple of T20Is will be played at Rajkot and Nagpur.

It is an important series as it starts the build-up towards the T20 World Cup for next year. The shortest format is India’s weakest format and the Men in Blue would like to correct it before the T20 World Cup. 

India has never lost a T20I against Bangladesh and would love to continue that trend. 

The home side's regular skipper, Virat Kohli, has been rested and Rohit Sharma will lead in his absence. Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are still not fit and hence don’t find a place in the side. Shivam Dube has received a maiden call-up to replace the latter.

Sanju Samson, too, has been picked as a back-up to Rishabh Pant whereas MS Dhoni still remains unavailable. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Navdeep Saini miss out as Shardul Thakur makes a comeback after quite a while. 

Talking about Bangladesh, they seem to be in all sorts of trouble. 

Firstly, the India tour was on hold as their players went on strike against the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). Once the strike was called off, their star all-rounder and skipper Shakib-Al-Hasan was banned for two years with a suspended year. 

Tamim Iqbal is going to miss the India tour due to personal reasons. Bangladesh will also miss the services of Mohammad Saifuddin who has been ruled out due to an injury. 

Mahmudullah Riyad has been appointed as the T20 captain in the absence of Shakib. It looks like a weaker Bangladesh team because of the omission of some big names. The likes of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mustafizur Rahman will remain key for Bangladesh, who'll be looking to distract themselves from the recent controversies.

India might give KL Rahul a chance at No.3 in the absence of Kohli and rest of the batting line-up would remain the same. 

India’s Predicted Playing XI: 

Rohit Sharma (C), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Khaleel Ahmed 

Bangladesh’s Predicted Playing XI: 

Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim (WK), Mahmudullah Riyad (C), Mosaddek Hossain, Afif Hossain, Aminul Islam Arafat Sunny, Taijul Islam, Shaiful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman 

Cover image credits: Times of India