The disparity in talent and class notwithstanding, India and Bangladesh matches have often been intensely fought resulting in maniac finishes, though India have maintained a clean slate.
Their last encounter in the T20 World Cup, during the 2016 edition in Bangalore, was equally thrilling with Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team pulling off a one-run win off the last ball.
Bangladesh needed just two runs from the final three balls of the match with four wickets in hand. But Hardik Pandya took two wickets in two balls, before Dhoni won the race to dislodge the stumps and ran out Mustafizur Rahman as he tried to scamper a bye to level the scores on 146 and force a Super Over.
This time the circumstances are quite in India’s favour. They are well placed with two victories though a loss to South Africa in their last match did upset their applecart. Bangladesh are a side in transition and are tied on points with India despite an inferior run-rate. Wednesday’s meeting in Adelaide could determine which team could fall by the wayside in their quest for a semi-final berth.The weather has been playing truant in this World Cup and Adelaide has been equally fickle. It rained for most of Tuesday though the conditions improved drastically when the Indians turned up for practice. Showers are predicted on Wednesday evening and chances of a truncated match cannot be ruled out. The implementation of the Duckworth-Lewis method can prove to be disastrous in a rain-interrupted match as England found out against Ireland.
This will be the second game in Adelaide in this tournament and the venue will present a slightly different challenge with its long straight boundaries and the wickets favouring the spinners. The average first innings score under lights in the BBL since the 2019-20 season is 170 with teams batting first winning 16 compared to 9 wins for chasing teams.
Dravid didn’t throw any light on whether they would stick with Deepak Hooda in the XI or bring back Axar Patel. Bangladesh have four left-hand batters in their top six and it might be tempting to go back to the winning combination. There’s also a chance that Yuzvendra Chahal may be tried out since Bangladesh are known to struggle against wrist spin.
Bangladesh’s attack may not be as incisive as South Africa but Taskin Ahmed with eight wickets from three matches and two Man of the Match awards have been their most successful bowler. He is the highest wicket-taker in the Super 12 phase. Mustafizur though has been their most economical with 5.00 and could make some early breakthroughs in the top-order.
The Adelaide Oval wicket has traditionally helped the batters. It remains Virat Kohli’s favourite ground with the fomer captain having scored five hundreds here across formats. Bangladesh will hope he doesn’t get going again.
