Dubbed the favourite to win the title after their stellar performances in white-ball cricket as they reached the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup and won the 2024 T20 World Cup, India will be aiming for a winning start against Bangladesh in the Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.
India have a strong side with a mixture of youth and experienced players and are coming into the mini World Cup on the bank of a 3-0 clean sweep of a strong England side in a preceding ODI series. Bangladesh on the other hand have played in a domestic T20 league before the eight-team competition.
With two teams each from both groups set to qualify for the semifinals, every group stage game is critical for the Rohit Sharma-led side to win and strengthen their chances of winning the title they last held in 2013.
However, Thursday's match against Bangladesh will be played under overcast skies and there is a threat of rain cutting the game short.
With tougher matches ahead in the competition, India will be looking up to their top order to start on the front foot and score some big runs as except for Rohit Sharma in the second ODI and Shubman Gill in the third match against England, India's top order has struggled for big scores in recent times.
This is in stark contrast to the 50-over ODI World Cup in 2023 when India dominated the opponents with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli coming up with some big efforts, emerging the top scorers with 765 and 597 runs respectively while Shreyas Iyer contributed 530 runs.
Skipper Rohit Sharma pointed at the lack of big scores by the top order and said things will end well for India if one of the top-order batters manages to score a century.
Scoring hundreds at the top is the secret to success. Our top 4 are settled and experienced. They understand that between the top 4 one of them has to get a century. But in the World Cup, we chipped and didn’t have a lot of hundreds and still got big totals. Everyone wants to chip in and not look at individual milestones and every batsman has to do the job. If 7-8 of us think like that we will be in a good position.
One of the guys from whom Rohit will be expecting a lot of runs will be his deputy Shubman Gill, the in-form player batter who scored a century in the third ODI against England, helping the batter top the ODI Rankings.
Gill is a classy player and there was no doubt about him. We keep mixing formats, but he has been doing well in the format. His numbers are crazy. He has been superb for us. There is a reason why he is elevated to vice-captain..
While India look sorted in terms of their batting, their bowlers will have to prove a few things in the absence of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who was the star of their campaign in the T20 World Cup and also the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against Australia.
In his absence, India have put their fate in the slow stuff by including Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Varun Chakravarthy in the squad.
We have two spinners and three all-rounders. I am not looking at them as five spinners. Jadeja, Axar, and Washi (Washington Sundar) give us a lot of depth. Many other teams carry six pacers when they have pace-bowling all-rounders. No one says they have one pacer too many. That’s their strength, and we focus on our strengths..
Bangladesh skipper Nazmul Hossain Shanto was also confident of his team excelling in all departments of the game. They will have to be at their best if they have to put it across India.
I think we have to perform well in all departments—batting, bowling, and fielding. Over the last few years, we have built a strong side in this format. The conditions are quite similar for both teams, and I am confident that we will prepare ourselves well. I hope for the best in tomorrow's match.
Shanto said all team in the competition are strong and said they will execute their plans well against India on Thursday.
If you look at all eight teams, they are quality sides. We have good memories against India, Pakistan, and New Zealand, having won a few matches in recent times. Last year, when we played India in Bangladesh, we had some great moments. But that is in the past. If we play well tomorrow and execute our plans, we will have a good match.
Bangladesh will also be banking on the fact that Dubai has not been a happy hunting ground for India in ICC events and they will hope to extend their poor run on Thursday.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, and Varun Chakravarthy.
Bangladesh: Nazmul Hossain Shanto (c), Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan, Tawhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, MD Mahmud Ullah, Jaker Ali Anik, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Parvez Hossain Emon, Nasum Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Nahid Rana.
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