India take on Bangladesh in their fourth match of ICC Cricket World Cup at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune on Thursday, October 19. While India are unbeaten in the tournament with three wins on the trot, Bangladesh have lost their last two matches. India have outplayed all their opponents in the tournament so far, registering convincing wins in all three matches. After beating Australia in the opening match, they got the better of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the following matches.
India captain Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are in red-hot form, with both players picking up the Player of the Match awards in the last two matches respectively.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, got off to a good start with a six-wicket victory against Afghanistan. However, their strength was put to test against England and New Zealand in their last two matches and they failed to emerge victorious in both these games.
India will look to continue the winning momentum with another big fixture coming up in the weekend against New Zealand in Dharamshala.
Openers: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill
With the return of Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma will be at ease at the top of the order and play his attacking cricket with a lot more freedom. The Indian skipper has scored 217 runs in three matches at a stellar strike-rate of 141.83 in the tournament so far.
Shubman Gill, on the other hand, is India’s top run-scorer in ODIs this year, having scored 1,246 runs in 21 ODIs, including five centuries and five half-centuries. He returned to the playing XI against Pakistan after missing the first two matches and is set to keep his place.
Middle order: Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul
The positive for the Indian middle order is that all three first-choice batters have registered half-centuries in the tournament so far. Virat Kohli, the leading run-scorer in ODI cricket among active cricketers right now, has scored two fifties in three matches.
KL Rahul fell three runs short of a century against Australia but was named Player of the Match for his terrific innings under pressure. Shreyas Iyer got off to a slow start in the tournament, but an unbeaten 53 against Pakistan saw him return to form at the right time.
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur
India might go ahead with Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur once again as the all-round options. The Men in Blue went ahead with Shardul Thakur instead of Ravichandran Ashwin in the last two matches and might offer the player another opportunity as he adds batting depth to the side.
Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya, who are capable of contributing crucial cameos in the middle order, are yet to be tested with the bat. However, both players have been terrific with the ball, picking up five wickets each in three matches. Jadeja came up with an impressive performance against Australia, where he dismissed the dangerous Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne in quick succession.
Bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj currently ranked No. 2 in the ICC ODI rankings for bowlers, picked up only one wicket in the first two matches of the tournament. However, he got two vital breakthroughs against Pakistan and continued what has been an impressive run of form this year.
Jasprit Bumrah is currently the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with eight wickets in three matches. His spell of 2/19 against Pakistan earned him the Player of the Match award and also picked up four wickets in the match against Afghanistan.
Kuldeep Yadav is the other attacking spin option for Rohit Sharma, who has returned with five wickets in the tournament so far. Yadav chipped in with an economy spell of 2/35 in 10 overs against Pakistan and will pose a major threat in the middle overs.
India’s Predicted Playing XI
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
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