Mahmudullah ruled out as Tigers bowl first against India

India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat first in their match against Bangladesh at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Tuesday, reports BSS. 

The match is a must-win game for Bangladesh to stay alive for the semifinal race of the World Cup.

“We wanted to bat first. But against them, it’s not a bad idea to bowl first because they love to chase as well. We love to win this do-or-die match. We have to play at our best in every arena,” said Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.

Bangladesh brought two changes to the side from their 62-run victory against Afghanistan in the last match.

Sabbir Rahman came in the team after Injury forced Mahmudullah Riyad to be sidelined while fast bowler Rubel Hossain replaced off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

With the ground 59-meter short at one side (leg-side for right hand batsman), both of the teams included three fast bowlers in the side since the spinners have little to do here.

India also made two changes after their 31-run defeat at the hands of England in the last match.

Dinesh Karthik came in the place of Kedar Jadhav while pace bowler Buhvneshwar Kumar replaced left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

England’s victory over India left Bangladesh in some tricky situation as far as their semifinal spot is concerned but for the time being they put the calculation to the rest.

The Tigers now need to win their match against India and pray for a defeat of England in their match against New Zealand on July 3.

But if England win this match, Bangladesh will be eliminated from the race even before their last match against Pakistan on July 5 at Lord’s.

But what they at the moment can look is to win their match against India today.

Bangladesh are in the sixth position in the point table currently with seven points from seven games. India will come off in the match against Bangladesh with a 31-run drubbing to hosts England but they still remain in second position with 11 points from seven games.

Bangladesh and India so far faced off each other 35 times in ODI cricket in which India won 29 times in contrast of Bangladesh’s five.

In World Cup they however they met thrice with India winning two but Bangladesh drew the blood first in their first meeting in cricket’s biggest carnival. That was in 2007 when a young Bangladeshi side, comprised with the rookie like Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim stunned India by five wickets, showing a sheering audacity.

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicket-keeper), Liton Das, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Mohammad Saifuddin, Rubel Hossain, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (captain), Mustafizur Rahman.

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (captain), Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Buhvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah.

Umpires: Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sri Lanka; Marais Erasmus, South Africa.

TV Umpire: Aleem Dar, Pakistan. Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle, Sri Lanka.