DHAKA: Bangladesh are facing the visiting India bowlers in their first game of the three-match ODI series at Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in city’s Mirpur on Thursday afternoon.

Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal began batting with Soumya Sarkar in another end of the crease while Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled the first over of the innings.

Earlier, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and elected to bat first. The match kicked off at 3:00pm local time.

Bangladesh have only one win against India in a bilateral series, in Dhaka in 2004. Both teams have played three series in 2004, 2007 and 2014. India have sealed all series.

Litton Das and Mustafizur Rahman have made their debut, becoming the 117th and 118th players to play ODIs for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh have left out Rony Talukdar, Mominul Haque and Arafat Sunny from their squad.

India have left out Axar Patel, Stuart Binny, Ambati Rayudu and Dhawal Kulkarni, continuing with the three-seamer-two-spinner combination.

They are playing with the same XI as the Word Cup semi-final except for Bhuvneshwar Kumar coming in for the injured Mohammed Shami.

This series is more important for the hosts. Tigers need two wins out of the six matches at home, against India and South Africa, to stay in the top eight of the ICC ODI rankings for the Champions Trophy qualification.

Team

Bangladesh:

Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim†, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza*, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed

India:

Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (C&WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma

Umpires - Enamul Haque and RJ Tucker
TV umpire - Anisur Rahman
Match referee - AJ Pycroft
Reserve umpire - Masudur Rahman

BDST: 1507 HRS, JUN 18, 2015
HB/RS

** Tigers opt to bat first