With the Kiwi tour done and dusted, it is now time for the Men in Blue to set their eyes on what is an important series against the formidable Bangladesh in the latter’s den. It has been a while since the two teams have engaged in a bilateral affair and this is India’s first visit to Bangladesh since 2015.

Bangladesh have achieved the goal of qualifying for the 50-over World Cup in the forthcoming year and will be looking forward to carrying the momentum against a star-studded Indian unit.

All Indian eyes will be on the returning hallowed trio of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. However, with Mohammed Shami taken out of the equation due to an injury, it will be interesting to see how Umran Malik fares on the flat tracks of the sub-continent if given a go.

Bangladesh will be without two of their star players, Tamim Iqbal and Taskin Ahmed as both of them have been injured. Without the likes of Tamim, Litton Das will have a crucial role to play in steering the hosts against the mighty visitors.

Despite the contrasting ranks in terms of ODI cricket, it is needless to say that we are in for a cracker of a contest with both sides hungry for a winning start and so much more to look forward to from the Sher-e Bangla stadium.

Venue Watch:

This seems to be a pretty decent batting surface going by the numbers that surround the historic stadium in Dhaka. A total of 113 ODIs have been played here with 53 of them won batting first while 59 have been won chasing. The average first innings score is 228 while the average second innings score is 197. There is a tradition of turn kicking in the second half of the contest which will urge further caution from the batters before they go forward with their shots.

Head-to-head:

Matches played: 36

India: 30

Bangladesh: 5

Match Details:

India vs Bangladesh

Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Mirpur

4th December, 2022

11:30 AM IST

Squads:

India:

Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shahbaz Ahmed, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, Umran Malik

Bangladesh:

Najmul Hossain Shanto, Yasir Ali, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Ebadot Hossain, Anamul Haque, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Nurul Hasan, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed.