The International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2023 match on Thursday features hosts India against fellow Asian rivals Bangladesh. India is one of two teams in the tournament to maintain a 100 per cent record so far winning all three of their matches, while Bangladesh will come into the match on the back of two successive defeats.
The match between the Asian giants will be played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune and is set to begin at 2 pm. India will be looking to extend their winning streak, while Bangladesh will hope to stop their slump. The match is expected to be an exciting affair.
Head To Head:
There have been 40 One Day Internationals (ODIs) played between India and Bangladesh so far, with India winning on 31 occasions and Bangladesh winning eight with one match not yielding any result. However, recent encounters favour the Bangladeshis massively who have won three out of the last four times the two teams have faced off.
Last time out, the two teams had played in the Asia Cup 2023 in September right before the World Cup. Shakib Al Hasan was the player of the match as Bangladesh defeated India by six runs despite Shubman Gill’s heroic 121 off 133 balls. Rohit Sharma was out for a duck and he will be out for revenge, while Axar Patel, who lost his spot in India’s World Cup squad after picking up an injury, scored 42 off 34 balls in vain.
In World Cups, India and Bangladesh have played in four matches so far, with the Men in Blue coming up trumps on three of those matches. In the 2007 World Cup, Bangladesh had their moment of glory when they won the match by five wickets. India won by 87 runs in the 2011 World Cup, while in the 2015 edition the victory margin was 109 runs. India defeated Bangladesh by 28 runs in the 2019 World Cup.
Pitch Report:
The Pune pitch is heaven for batters. Early in the match, pacers are likely to enjoy some seam and swing, however, they will have to keep their line and length in check as batters will be looking to take full advantage of the pitch’s support. The team that wins the toss usually chooses to bowl first, with the average first innings score on the pitch being a lofty 288.
There have been seven ODIs played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. In 2021, India had set the highest score of 356 for the loss of seven wickets against England at the stadium. In seven innings there, former captain Virat Kohli has scored 448 runs including two hundreds and three fifties.
Weather Forecast:
The humidity in Pune is expected to go as high as 74 per cent with the highest temperature touching 33 degrees. According to Weather.com, there is as little as seven per cent chance of rain in Pune.
Match Prediction:
Google’s win probability has put India with an 87 per cent chance of winning the match with Bangladesh given a 13 per cent chance.
CrickTracker has held that India will win the match with the matter of who bats first not affecting that outcome. Khel Now also favours India to take the win despite giving Bangladesh due credit for their past records. Rohit Sharma and the team should win the match, however, they will have to keep an eye out as an early top-order collapse could put pressure on the new-look middle-order.
