Find out all you need to know about the clash between the sides in Delhi
India will kickstart their preparations for October’s Men’s T20 World Cup in Delhi on Sunday, taking on Bangladesh in the first game of a three-match series.
FIRST T20: Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi (Sunday, November 3)
SECOND TEST: Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot (Thursday, November 7)
THIRD TEST: Vidharba Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur (Sunday, November 10)
It will be just the second time the two sides have met on Indian soil in the short format, following India’s dramatic 1 run victory in Bangalore during the group stages of the 2016 World Twenty20, and the hosts will look to maintain their 100 per cent T20 record against the Tigers.
Bangladesh will take the field with a point to prove against a young Indian side led by Rohit Sharma, with the tour coming just days after star allrounder Shakib Al Hasan was handed a two-year ban by the ICC for three breaches of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
India will be looking to bounce back after drawing 1-1 with South Africa in September’s three-match series, with the opening game in Dharamsala being lost to rain and an unbeaten 79 from Proteas wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock levelling the series with a comfortable 9 wicket win with 19 balls to spare in Bangalore.
India enter the series on top in the ICC team rankings, despite slipping to fifth place earlier this year. Bangladesh, despite making the final of their tri-series with Afghanistan and Zimbabwe last month, currently sit in ninth, but a series whitewash would see them leapfrog Rashid Khan’s side.
India are a heavy favourite, with Dafabet currently offering odds of 1/10 for Rohit Sharma’s side to take the opening game. Odds for Bangladesh coming out on top in game one are 11/2.
Regular captain Virat Kohli will rest ahead of the tour’s Test portion later this month, with Rohit Sharma set to lead the national side for the first time since February in his absence. Injury concerns around Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Navdeep Saini mean they will miss another T20 series, while Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah will miss both portions of the tour as they continue to recover from recent surgery.
In their place, there’s a maiden national team call-up for Mumbai all-rounder Shivam Dube after he tallied a Vijay Hazare Trophy century against Karnataka earlier this month. Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson returns to the squad and could earn his second international cap more than four years after his first, and a fit-again Yuzvendra Chahal and Shardul Thakur round out the squad in place of Ravindra Jadeja, who picked up just one wicket in last month’s series against South Africa and has fallen down the short-form pecking order.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Shikhar Dhawan, Shivam Dube, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Krunal Pandya, Rishabh Pant KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur
The Tigers’ preparations for the tour have been rocked by this week’s announcement that superstar allrounder Shakib Al Hasan has been given a two-year ban by the ICC for failing to report three approaches from a bookmaker in 2018.
Shakib, who this year became the first player in World Cup history to claim the double of 500 runs and 10 wickets in a single competition, had been set to captain the side, and just last week announced that the country’s players were calling off strike action after working with the Bangladesh Cricket Board to reach agreement on a number of contractual and structural issues.
With a year of his ban suspended thanks to his co-operation in the investigation, Shakib may be eligible to play part of next year’s T20 World Cup should Bangladesh qualify from their initial group games.
However, in his absence, it is the veteran hand of Mahmudullah taking charge after ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal withdrew from the tour as his wife is expecting a child later this month. Also a late absentee is Mohammad Saifuddin, who suffered a recurrence of a back injury after September’s T20 Tri-Series with Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.
After a fine List A series for the A team against Sri Lanka that included two fifties, Legends of Rupganj opener Mohammad Naim could be in line to make an international debut in Tamim’s spot.
Left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny comes into the T20 squad for the first time since 2016 after taking 16 wickets in this year’s Bangladesh Premier League, and Soumya Sarkar will hope to return to the squad after being brought back at the request of new head coach Russell Domingo, who took the role vacated by the board’s split from Steve Rhodes after his side failed to progress to the knockout rounds in this summer’s World Cup in England and Wales.
Bangladesh squad: Mahmudullah (c), Liton Das, Abu Hider, Afif Hossain, Al-Amin Hossain, Mossadek Hossain, Aminul Islam, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mohammad Mithun, Mohammad Naim, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mustafizur Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Arafat Sunny
Forecasts suggest a clear and balmy Sunday evening in Delhi, with temperatures steady at around 25 degrees with a chance of periodic clouds.
UK viewers can watch the game at 1:20pm GMT on Star Gold (Sky 717, Virgin Media 801, TalkTalk 551) or stream it live via Hotstar. In India, Star Sports Select 1 will have live coverage from 6:50pm.
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