Tigers prepare to roar again

File Photo

FT ONLINE

After a remarkable victory over Sri Lanka motivated Bangladesh take on India in fifth match of the Nidahas T20I Tri- nation series scheduled to be held today (Wednesday) at R Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The match kicks off at 7.30 pm (BST).

Tigers will go into today's match with two missions-- one is they must want to bring their five-match winless run in T20Is against India to an end and the other is to seal their spot in the final, which India have almost made it by winning in the return match against Sri Lanka on Monday.

Led by Mushfiqur Rahim's career-best unbeaten 72 run, Tigers successfully chased down their record target (215) against the Islanders and boosted by the performance they will take on India to bring a positive result.

The Tigers have a vibrant dressing room after a memorable victory over Sri Lanka. The fact is that their previous highest successful chase was 166 and now they made it 215.

In-form batsman Liton Das started in aggressive style before southpaw opener Tamim Iqbal took over the bat on. Then Soumya Sarkar struck a few timely blows and Mushfiqur Rahim took over, finishing with an unbeaten 72 off 35 balls with some help from Mahmudullah.

Tigers' bowling could do better, however, Mehidy Hasan and Nazmul Islam will once again need to slow things down while Mustafizur Rahman and Rubel Hossain have to bowl well in the Power play and slog overs.

The Bangladeshi bowlers obviously need to step up against the strong Indian batting line up so that they can to at least able to stop the run flow. Their fast bowlers aren't short on talent and exposure and with the conditions at the R Premadasa Stadium being batsmen-friendly, they need to be the differential to the equation.

Bangladesh are unlikely to change their winning line-up but there are strong question marks next to Sabbir Rahman and Taskin Ahmed after the Sri Lanka match. Ariful Haque and Abu Jayed could be options to consider for the Wednesday's match.

The Tigers have beaten top sides in Test and one-day internationals, but struggled to find consistency in the shortest format of the sport, having lost nine of their last 11 T20s.

On the other hand, India are a much stronger team in every department than the Lankan lions. The men in blue will look to continue their winning run to seal a spot in the final.

After losing the first T20I against Sri Lanka, India have bounced back strongly in the series as the side led by Rohit Sharma went on to defeat Bangladesh by six wickets, after which they defeated the hosts by six wickets on Monday. With two consecutive victories in the series, India are on the verge of making it to the final of the tri-series.

Teams:

Bangladesh (probable): Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicket keeper), Mahmudullah (captain), Sabbir Rahman/Ariful Haque, Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed/Abu Jayed, Rubel Hossain and Nazmul Islam

India (probable): Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik (wicket keeper), Vijay Shankar, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shardul Thakur and Jaydev Unadkat.