India aim to dominate Bangladesh in semis

Birmingham: India take on Bangladesh in the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Bangladesh have been the surprise packages of the tournament so far, beating New Zealand and Australia to the semi-final spot.

Head-2-Head:
32 matches; India 26 wins; Bangladesh 5 wins; no result 1.

Clubbed in a group that had hosts England, Australia and New Zealand, Bangladesh were favoured to be one of the first teams that will be shown the door in the group stage.

Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Tamim Iqbal, Mortaza’s fearlessness and some rains have given Bangladesh a leg up and they now play defending champions India in the semi-final.

India, on the other hand, are one of the favourites to win the title. But the concept of favourites for anything has gone for a toss in this tournament.

If the predictions were to be believed, it should have been India, England, Australia/New Zealand and South Africa in the semi-finals. While India and England are through, it is Pakistan and Bangladesh who have made it over the rest of the teams.

Hence, India will still be favourites when they walk onto the pitch at Edgbaston on Thursday. Mortaza’s statement is also a clear indicator that they will come into the match with nothing to lose and everything to win.

It was a pace-heavy bowling attack that helped Bangladesh trounce New Zealand and one can expect the likes of Rubel Hossain and Taskin Ahmed to feature against India.

India may just stick with the combination that reaped them so much benefits in their match against South Africa at The Oval.

The last time India and Bangladesh played in an ICC tournament was in the 2016 ICC World T20I.

Bangladesh had to endure a heart-breaking one-run defeat in that instance.

Bangladesh played four fast bowlers against New Zealand. The decision for them is whether they want the offspin of Mehedi Hasa. Imrul Kayes might struggle to make it back to the XI.

India have the obvious upper hand over their neghbours in almost every way but how much of the emotions of that match Mashrafe Mortaza will use to rile his forces will be seen at Edgbaston

Umesh Yadav has a decent record against Bangladesh, but it is unlikely India will tinker with the combination that won against South Africa.

Teams from

India: Virat Kohli (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper).

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (Capt.), Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Mosaddek Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Sunzamul Islam, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed

Stats and trivia

• Since the last World Cup, Bangladesh have had a better ODI record against the top-eight sides than India.
• Both have won 11 matches each, but Bangladesh have lost 10 to India's 13.
• Mustafizur has got Rohit Sharma three times in 39 balls for 38 runs.

Best at Champions Trophy:
India: Joint winners 2002; winners 2013
Bangladesh: Group stage

Match facts
Thursday June 15, 2017
Start time 1030 local (0930 GMT)