Rohit Sharma’s India aims for their fourth successive ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 success in Pune, while Bangladesh seek to get back to winning ways after two successive defeats.
India host Bangladesh in a men's ODI on home soil for the first time since 1998 as the two sides meet in Pune for the highly-anticipated clash at the Cricket World Cup.
Bangladesh's stand-in skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto called it right at the toss and chose to bat first. He believed that the fresh Pune wicket would be good for batting. His opposite number, Rohit Sharma stated that he would have chosen to field.
Nasum Ahmed came in for Bangladesh, in place of the injured skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Hasan Mahmud replaces Taskin Ahmed.
The home side is eyeing a fourth consecutive victory and a return to the top of the Cricket World Cup standings after a bright start to their campaign.
Bangladesh also enjoyed a promising opening with a win over Afghanistan but have since found the going tougher with back-to-back matches against the two finalists from the last tournament in England and New Zealand.
While a third loss in a row would leave Bangladesh with little margin for error in the race for a crucial top-four finish, they do have strong recent form against India after snatching a final-over thriller in the Super Four stage of the recent Asia Cup.
Regular Bangladesh skipper Shakib compiled 80 runs in the first innings to be the leading scorer in a total of 265, which proved just enough as India lost three wickets in the last two overs to be all out six runs short.
India opener Shubman Gill smashed a century in the reply of that match and will be out to make a similar impact after overcoming illness to return to the line-up for the most recent Cricket World Cup clash with Pakistan.
Rohit (217 runs) and India star Virat Kohli (156) are already among the top run-scorers at the Cricket World Cup 2023.
Jasprit Bumrah has quickly impressed after returning from a back injury in time to be fit for the Cricket World Cup and already has eight wickets to be India's main bowling threat.
India have their own spin weapons with Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja both taking five wickets at the tournament so far, along with all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
Playing XIs
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Bangladesh squad: Litton Das, Tanzid Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Nasum Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam
