India ask Bangladesh to bowl, Sabbir replaces Mahmudullah

Sabbir Rahman will replace Mahmudullah as Bangladesh have been asked to bowl first against India in the World Cup match at Birmingham.

India earlier on Tuesday won the toss and invited Tigers to field first in the crucial match.

Mahmudullah has been dropped as he failed to pass the fitness test on his calf tear.

News agency AFP reports that the two-time champions made two changes to the team that lost to hosts England at Edgbaston on Sunday.

Batsman Dinesh Karthik and fit-again paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar made the cut in place of Kedar Jadhav and Kuldeep Yadav, with India needing to win one of their remaining two group matches to guarantee a place in the last four.

Kohli, who has hit five successive half-centuries in the World Cup, said getting runs on the board was ideal on a used wicket -- it is the same pitch England and India played on Sunday.

"It's a used wicket, last game it was getting slower and slower in the second half and we think it is going to deteriorate, so it will be good to get runs on the board," Kohli said at the toss.

Bangladesh Squad

Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Mosaddek Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Rubel Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman