Tweeting Afghans registering smashing win over depleted tigers hurt their pride. There is no doubt that the winning momentum got stalled. But that in no way would resist Bangladesh from challenging strong Indians today in a very crucial match of group of four at Dubai International stadium. 

Inform Tiger opener Tamim is already out of the tournament, key batsman Mushfique and leading pacer Mustafiz were rested. Bangladesh struggled against top quality Afghan spin attack which at this moment appears to be the best in the world.  We are sure team tigers have all the abilities in regrouping and bouncing back like wounded tigers. Dubai wicket would favor Bangladesh style of the game.

In the recent past Bangladesh proved competitive against India in the limited over formats. Bangladesh played extremely well against Sri Lanka in the first match. India on the other hand clinically avalanched traditional rival Pakistan .But they survived through the skin of the teeth against minnows ICC associate qualifier Hong Kong.  It will be anybody’s game. The team which produces a game today would get across the rope.

The matter which has made Bangladesh task challenging is the injury to the leading Bangladesh batsman prolific opener Tamim Iqbal. He was proving to be one of the main stay in Bangladesh batting. Adjusting his game a lot Tamim played the sheet anchor role in recent times. His absence has created some issues with Bangladesh in setting the top order. Liton is still raw in international level. Other tried and tested opener Imrul Kayes is not in the team. Experimenting with Nazmul Hossain Shanto did not pay dividends against Afghanistan. But Bangladesh has no choice. 

Hope Liton Shanto pair gets off to a reasonable start against India letting Shakib, Mushfique, Mahmudullah and the rest consolidate. I am in favour of giving Mominul another opportunity today. He has the quality and ability to get set for a long innings. One good innings would bring the best out of him. Bangladesh needs some one like Ariful to take advantage of the last power play.  In the group of four Bangladesh needs winning at least two matches and the winning start today would go a long way in cementing the cause of Bangladesh playing in the final. For that to happen against very strong India Bangladesh has to improve a lot in all three departments batting, bowling and fielding. Mashrafe and Mustafiz have to serve early blows removing Rohit and Shikhar. 

Bangladesh bowls well in the middle overs through Shakib and Miraj to restrict free flowing Indian middle order. Hope Rubel and Mustafiz would bowl well with the old ball restricting India to chase able target. If batting first Bangladesh needs one of the top three Shakib, Mushfique and Mahmudulah batting through out the innings and two substantial partnerships. Wounded tigers always hunt in vengeance. We hope Mushfique after a days rest would repeat his wonders of tournament opener. He always bats well against India. Shakib bowled exceptionally well against Afghanistan and now he has to deliver as his trademark all round performance. A great innings is overdue from Mahmudullah as well. 

On the other hand India had one great game against Pakistan and one very ordinary one against Hong Kong.  Indian bowling did not look that penetrative or unplayable. Pakistan batted exceptionally poorly. Hong Kong openers showed how to deal with Indian attack. Hope Bangladesh would take a leaf out of it. Bangladesh has to bowl and field well to restrict Indian world class batting even without Virat Kohli. Injury to Hardik Pandya would deplete the late middle order batting a bit. But Rohit, Dhawan, Karthik, Pandey, Dhoni can tear any attack apart on their day. Bangladeshi bowlers must bowl consistently at right channel and Bangladesh must take their chances. In any case the match would be much closer than many anticipating .We hope Bangladesh would not choke again.

Probable Squad: 

Bangladesh: Liton K Das, Nazmul Hussain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan, Mithun Ali, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Ariful Haque, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mehidy Hasan Miraj, Mustafiz, Abu Hider Rony 

India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Pandya, Rishab Pant, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Kuldeep Yadav, Juspreet Bumrah, Chahal, B Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed.

BDST: 1251 HRS, SEPT 21, 2018
SI