The young Indian team led by Rohit Sharma would be hoping for an improved performance to level the series when they take on Bangladesh in the second Twenty-20 International (T20I) in Rajkot on Thursday. The first of the three-match series was won by the visitors in Delhi on Sunday.
The onus will be on the batsmen to produce a better display from the last match. Much will depend on how Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma fare at the top.
One can argue the first match was a rare off day for Sharma in a year which has seen him scoring tonnes of runs. But for Dhawan, it’s a different story as the left-hander has not found the best of his touches ever since he got himself injured in the ICC World Cup 2019.
KL Rahul, if he retains his position ahead of Manish Pandey, would be expected to take some responsibility alongside Shreyas Iyer at the middle-order. However, if the team bat first one might even see Shivam Dube being promoted to fasten the scoring rate.
The team could see another change in the form of Sanju Samson replacing Rishabh Pant. The Delhi wicket-keeper has been highly disappointing for most of 2019 and should be swapped with his Kerala counterpart.
The bowling-unit should remain same except that Khaleel Ahmed might be changed with Shardul Thakur as the former’s expensive overs at the death in the first T20I cost the team dearly.
However, not much was left for the bowlers to do in the last match and the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal and Deepak Chahar would be hoping to gain some assistance from the Rajkot track.
For Bangladesh, a series-victory would be on the sight. They had everything going their way in Delhi and should expect the same from the players today. However, opener Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar can add some firepower during the first powerplay to give the team a fiery start.
In Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah, the team have the best middle-order combination and it fetched them full marks in their last outing. Rahim will look to carry on the fine show and start from where he left.
On the bowling front, Shaiful Islam and Aminul Islam, leading wicket-takers from the last match, will be key. It will also be interesting to see if Mahmudullah gives his main bowler Mustafizur Rahim the new ball and his quota of four overs or uses him in a frugal manner.
India vs Bangladesh, 2nd T20I: Predicted Playing XI
India: Rohit Sharma (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul/Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant/Sanju Samson (WK), Shivam Dube, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed/Shardul Thakur.
Bangladesh: Liton Das, Mohammad Naim, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (WK), Mahmudullah (C), Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Aminul Islam, Shafiul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin.