Bangladesh started their World Cup campaign with a dominating six-wicket win over Afghanistan, but their campaign since then has only been going downward. They took a heavy beating in the next couple of matches against the defending champions England and the previous World Cup finalist New Zealand.
After losing in two consecutive matches, Bangladesh have been pushed down to seventh in the points table, even behind Afghanistan who gave a shocking defeat to England to move up to the sixth.
India, on the other hand, have been the most dominant side in the tournament so far. They started their World Cup run with a convincing six-wicket victory over Australia, one of the top contenders.
Rohit Sharma’s side have also dominated their arch-rivals Pakistan in their match, winning the tie by seven wickets after their eight-wicket win over Afghanistan.
Bangladesh, however, now need to be back to winning for their chances to still fight for the semi-finals of the mega event, as both India and New Zealand have won three out of three matches to secure the top two spots in the table.
South Africa and Pakistan are also in a better position while England and Australia are still in contention.
All the equations kept aside, Bangladesh aim to bounce back into the tournament with a statement victory over the hosts as they take on the mighty India today in their fourth game of the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. The match starts at 2:30pm (Bangladesh Time).
The Indian side might be entering into the match as the favourites given their home condition and current form, Bangladesh however, have a better win-ratio against the 2011 world champions since their meeting in the 2019 World Cup.
The two sides have faced each other in the format only four times since the 2019 World Cup, and Bangladesh have won three of them with the most recent one coming in the Asia Cup just a couple of months prior to the World Cup.
The World Cup records, on the other hand, are in the favour of India as the two-time world champions have won three out of the four matches they played against Bangladesh in the World Cups. The historical victory in the 2007 World Cup being the only one Bangladesh have won against their sub-continental rivals.
Since their victory in 2007, Bangladesh have always put up a good fight whenever they faced India, some of them earned them bittersweet memories, especially the controversial match in the 2015 World Cup.
Anyhow, the return of skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who had been uncomfortable playing since an injury he picked while batting in their match against New Zealand, will boost the confidence of the Bangladesh side. Shakib was the man of the match in their recent victory over India in the Asia Cup.
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Liton Das, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Najmul Hossain Shanto (vc), Tawhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nasum Ahmed, Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya (Vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav.
