Last Updated on 7 years by Charbel Coorey
Yes, another India v Sri Lanka series, but the refreshing thing this time around is that another team is involved. And hey, if we get the drama we did the last time these two sides met in a T20I, it’d be pretty fun, right?
Bangladesh, in their first match of the tournament, have a chance to put India under real pressure after their first up loss to Sri Lanka on Tuesday. Come on Bangladesh, make this interesting, will you? Their form lately has been shocking, and they miss Shakib Al Hasan big time. He was originally considered a chance for the 2nd Test v Sri Lanka last month, but his finger still hasn’t recovered sufficiently enough, and Bangladesh will again be without him. They have not done well in T20Is in recent years even with Shakib in the side, so the fact that they don’t have him here makes their task even tougher.
India’s less experienced players would have taken plenty of lessons from their loss to Sri Lanka. The powerplay in both innings let them down significantly – India were 40-2 and Sri Lanka were 75-2 at the end of each respective powerplay – such a difference is almost always going to lead to one result. For India, they have a chance to sort this out against a Bangladesh side who are low on confidence.
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| Shikhar Dhawan spoke of India’s death by powerplays in the opening game |
Key to a Bangladesh win
To make this match as tricky as possible for India, much will depend on how the likes of Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed and Mehedi Hasan (if selected) perform. In the recent series against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh’s bowlers were carted all over the park in both losses, and will be hoping that Courtney Walsh’s time with the fast bowlers working on their mental strength can pay dividends.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan possess the bulk of experience in this Indian line up, and their wickets early on will put pressure on the Indian middle order. You can’t trust Bangladesh’s batsmen to rack up 170+, and neither can you trust Bangladesh’s bowlers to defend a big score. However, keeping India quiet puts less pressure on the batsmen, so the onus is on the bowlers to perform well.
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| What impact will the Fizz have? |
Key to an India win
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| Rohit Sharma will be hoping for a better night this time around |
Predicted teams
Stats and Facts:
- The last time these two teams met in a T20I was THAT night in Bangalore when Mushfiqur Rahim decided that celebrating early was a better idea than actually hitting the winning runs.
- India have beaten Bangladesh in all five T20Is between the two teams.
- India have not lost two T20Is in a row since 2016. They have played 19 games since then.
- Bangladesh have lost nine of their last 10 T20Is.
Prediction:
