IND vs BAN: India have been asked to bowl first as Bangladesh stand-in captain Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and elected to bat first in the India vs Bangladesh clash in Pune. Shakib Al Hasan is not playing in the clash of the Asian giants India and Bangladesh. The Bangla Tigers have made one change, while India are going unchanged with Shardul Thakur retaining his place ahead of Mohammed Shami.
India and Bangladesh have faced each other in four ODI World Cup encounters before the Pune clash. The Indians have had the better of the Eastern neighbours on three of those occasions, while the Bangla Tigers have prevailed once. The Men in Blue are currently on a winning streak as they have registered a hat trick of victories in the tournament. Rohit Sharma's men have beaten Australia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Meanwhile, Bangladesh have won only one match in the tournament so far.
Why Shakib Al Hasan is not playing?
Shakib Al Hasan is yet to recover from his left quadriceps injury that he sustained in Bangladesh's last match against New Zealand on October 13. He had to undergo a fitness test on the match day but seemingly is not fit in time for the match. Shakib practised with the bat on the match eve but he did not bowl, Bangladesh coach Hathurusingha said before the game.
"Proud moment for me and my family. We'd like to bat today. Looks a fresh wicket. If we put some good score, it'll be good for the team. He (Shakib) is struggling a bit, Nasum is coming in for him. We have some great memories against India, hopefully we continue our form. I hope it'll be a great match. We love to see the crowd, hopefully they'll support both teams. Hasan comes in for Taskin," Bangladesh's stand-in captain said at the toss.
Rohit Sharma also looked to bowl first. "I would have bowled first. It's working at this point of time, don't see any reason to change it. That's important in this WC, keeping everybody in good space. The boys are in good shape, good mental space as well and enjoying the cricket. So far so good, we want to continue this momentum, Same team," Sharma said at the toss.
India's Playing XI:
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Bangladesh's Playing XI:
Litton Das, Tanzid Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mahmudullah, Nasum Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam
