Mercurial Bangladesh take on hosts England in CT opener

The ICC Champions Trophy 2017 is all set to get underway at the Oval on Thursday with hosts England taking on Bangladesh.

The England ODI side has had a good summer with wins against Ireland and South Africa in the ODI series and with most of their players in form, they are strong contenders for the title. England have not yet won a major ICC ODI event and will look to set that record straight at home this summer. With players like Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan and Sam Billings gaining IPL experience, they look like a strong squad.

Bangladesh have moved up to the sixth spot in the ICC ODI rankings and are ahead of Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The Mashrafe Mortaza led side are by no means pushovers and every team in the competition will have made note of that. Their batting looked solid against Pakistan in the first warm-up fixture and they would hope for runs at the top of the order form Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes. Shakib Al Hassan as always will play a vital role in their middle order and with the ball in hand as well. Their bowling attack looks strong with Mortaza, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and Mehedi Hasan.

Probable XIs

England: Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (C), Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (WK), Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (WK), Shakib Al Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mahsrafe Mortaza (C), Mustafizur Rahman

Source : The Ring Side View