Upbeat Bangladesh gear up for India challenge
Emboldened by the home condition and partisan crowd, Bangladesh hope to clinch yet another ODI series against India as the two sides lock horn for a three-match series for the first time since 2015.
The first ODI is tomorrow (Sunday) at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in capital Dhaka.
The match starts at 12 PM and will be aired live on T-sports and Gazi Television.
Bangladesh won their only ODI series against the mighty neighbour in 2015 by securing the three-match series 2-1 at home.
Liton Das, who was appointed as captain in absence of injured Tamim Iqbal, feels that there is no reason that they couldn't replicate the performance of 2015, especially when they are playing at home.
"The home condition is a big advantage for us. When we play at home, our goal is always to win the series, so there is no exception in this series also," Liton said here today during the pre-match conference.
"Obviously India are a better side and bolstered with so many world class players. But, if we can come up with our best cricket, anything can happen. I think we also have got a settled batting unit, good bowling and fielding side. So, there is no reason that we can't beat them. But we must play our best cricket."
After securing the last bilateral series between the two sides in 2015, Bangladesh lost five straight ODI matches to India with the last coming in 2019 Cricket World Cup. But in all of those five matches, they created a chance to beat India. While sometimes luck was not with them, sometimes they made blunder in fielding or batting to dig their own graveyards.
Even in the last T20 match between the two sides in the last month in T20 World Cup, Bangladesh came close to beat India, thanks to a blistering knock of Liton Das but they simply couldn't seal it.
Considering those tight games, Indian captain Rohit Sharma believed a tough time is awaiting for in the upcoming series.
"We have to play good cricket to win against them. And every time we played, it has been very close game. Even in the T20 World Cup, it was a close game. I think in 2015, we lost series here. We know they are a very improved team in the last few years. So, we've to play our best cricket to win this. It is not going to be easy for us," Rohit said.
The two teams played 36 matches, so far, between them India winning 30 and Bangladesh won just five matches while one match fetched no result.
Squad:
Bangladesh: Liton Das (captain), Anamul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Nasum Ahmed, Mahmudullah, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Nurul Hasan Sohan
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Deepak Chahar and Yash Dayal.
Source: BSS
