Bangladesh’s T20 World Cup opponents: India

India made an auspicious start to their ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2022 campaign with a thrilling four-wicket win over arch rival Pakistan in what is being dubbed as one of the finest T20I matches ever played.

Virat Kohli rolled back the clock a few years and emerged as India’s saviour in the match, making an incredible 82 not out off 53 balls under tremendous pressure in front of a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground to take India to a win that looked out of their reach for the majority of their chase.

Their next match was against the Netherlands, which they won by 56 runs.

After winning two in two, India’s World Cup campaign hit a roadblock against South Africa on Sunday.

South Africa’s pace attack, headlined by Lungi Ngidi’s 4-29, ran rampant at the WACA in Perth, restricting India to a meagre 133-9.

Indian pacers tried their best to defend the total but the Proteas, powered by half-centuries from Aiden Markram and David Miller, reached home with two balls to spare.

India, currently placed second in the Group 2 points-table behind South Africa, have two matches left in the Super 12 against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

If Rohit Sharma’s team wins both these matches, India will march into the semifinal. But if India slips up in either of the games, their fate won’t be in their hands.

After a lengthy barren period, India’s maverick batter Virat Kohli has finally started batting like his old self in this year’s T20 World Cup.

Kohli backed up his astounding innings against Pakistan with an unbeaten 62 against the Netherlands.

Kohli’s bat didn’t fire against South Africa, where he made 12 off 11 balls, and India’s fortune also soured in the game.

After Kohli, India will be looking at Suryakumar Yadav to come good against Bangladesh.

Yadav is currently third in the ICC T20 batsman rankings and already has 935 runs to his name in T20Is in 2022.

Yadav failed with the bat against Pakistan before hitting an unbeaten 51 against the Netherlands. In the South Africa match, where every Indian batsman struggled to find runs, Yadav was the lone exception, making a brisk 68 off 40 deliveries.

In the bowling department, young pacer Arshdeep Singh has been India’s most successful bowler so far, with seven wickets from three games.

Experienced pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami are lagging behind in the wicket’s column but possess excellent economy rates of 4.87 and 5.41 respectively.

On paper, India are the clear favourites against Bangladesh on Wednesday. But India-Bangladesh matches have a knack of going down to the wire, and the team in blue getting over the line.

The last time India and Bangladesh faced off in the ICC T20 World Cup was back in 2016, a game Bangladesh lost after failing to score two runs off three balls.

Both India and Bangladesh need a win to keep their fate in their own hands. But India will be more desperate for the win while the Tigers will head into the match with not much to lose.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan summed it up best in the pre-match press conference when he said, “India is the favourite team, they came here to win the World Cup. We are not favourites, we didn’t come here to win the World Cup. We know it very well that if we win against India, it will be called an upset. We will try to play our best cricket, and try to make an upset.”

Matches: 11

Bangladesh won: 1

India won: 10

Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami