Time to make up for past heartbreaks
DUBAI: At your hotel, the waiter, hailing from Bangladesh, requests you for a match ticket. Another request comes in the moment you hop into the cab, as the driver also happens to be from Bangladesh.
The outfield at the state-of-the-art Dubai International Cricket Stadium looks even more lush green, while the ‘Ring of Fire’ -the LED lights look set to shine in full glow. The ICC volunteers are going through the usual drill of displaying the national flags of India and Bangladesh, the workers are busy giving the finishing touches to the painted ads on the ground, while the groundsmen are giving the pitch one final roll. After enjoying complete rest on Tuesday, India chose to train at the stadium on Wednesday evening at a venue which has by now become familiar to them, while Bangladesh practiced at the ICC Academy.
All in all, the Dubai leg of the 2025 Champions Trophy looks set to kick off on Thursday when India, who remain the tournament favourites despite the absence of talismanic pacer Jasprit Bumrah in their ranks, take on an unpredictable, but tricky Bangladesh, in a group A match. Put simply, for the 2023 ODI World Cup finalists face the threat of slipping in a ‘banana skin’ game right up in a tournament where one defeat can leave you at the door of exit.
Next up for India are Pakistan on February 23 and then New Zealand on March 1-both in-form opponents. Clearly, this is a far bigger challenge for Rohit Sharma & Co than facing a dour England in a meaningless series at home.
However, having just thrashed England 3-0 at home in the ODI series, India would be flying high on confidence going into this mini-global event purely because the format here suits them to the ‘T’. Unlike the Tests, where they seemed to have lost the edge even on the deadly turners back home, and the T20Is, where things can be dicey, One-Day cricket is a format where India seemed to have aced their game.
Remember their brilliant run in the 2023 World Cup at home, where India steam rolled all opposition, winning 10 out of 11 matches before a Travis Head century at Ahmedabad in the final robbed them of the title, as Australia broke a million hearts that Nov 19 night?
Almost 16 months later, India would be slightly worried over the inconsistent, rather patchy form of their two old warhorses-captain Rohit Sharma and superstar Virat Kohli- a failure would raise more fingers and questions against their very presence in the team like never before. However, they would also be pleased as punch with the form of their vice-captain and opener Shubman Gill, who, on Wednesday overtook Pakistan’s Babar Azam as the No 1 ranked batter in the ODIs. Just a few days back, Gill had stroked a sublime 112 off 102 balls against England in the third and last ODI, after stroking half-centuries in the previous two matches.
To imagine that Shreyas Iyer, till he smashed that game-changing 44-ball 59 in the first ODI against England, wasn’t even assured of a place in the XI! Despite the hue and cry over their call, India look set to give the wicketkeeper’s spot to KL Rahul over Rishabh Pant- clearly preferring to stick by Rahul because of his proven record as a reliable middle-order bat.
In the bowling department, India are certain to prefer left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, who has enjoyed tremendous success in the T20Is (99 wickets in 63 matches, while has he has 14 scalps in nine ODIs), over Harshit Rana-impressive in his debut ODI series against England (six wickets in three matches) during which he generated pace and bounce.
With Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel set to start in the XI, it would be interesting to see whom India would pick as their third spinner-Kuldeep Yadav or Varun Chakravarthy, for their lung-opener. Kuldeep offers accuracy, variation and experience, while Varun brings ‘mystery’.
Meanwhile, his team may have endured a lop-sided record against India-they have lost 32 out of 41 ODIs at the hands of the cricketing giants and-but at the pre-match presser on Wednesday here, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto was bullish about his team’s chances to upset India straightaway in the CT opener. In a slight jolt to their campaign, Bangladesh lost their warm-up match to the Pakistan Shaheens (Pakistan A side) here, but Shanto refused to read much into it, saying that “It won’t have any effect because we saw a lot of things in the practice match. Everybody got a chance to bowl or bat. So, in general, it is for the sake of practice.”
Asked if superstar allrounder Shakib Al Hasan’s absence in this tournament was a concern for Bangladesh, Shanto replied with an emphatic: “No.”
Clearly, the Bangladesh skipper is basing his confidence on his team’s new-found, young pace battery, headlined by the talented young quick Nahid Rana, who is backed up by the experienced Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed and a slew of useful allrounders.
Quizzed on whether the presence of multiple all-rounders in his team was an advantage for a captain, Shanto said, “All-rounders always balance the team and we have got some good all-rounders. I hope they will perform tomorrow and play well.”
One thing which could make this match different for India, and even out things, is the presence of many Bangladesh fans in the crowd as well, thanks to the large number of expats from that country. In fact, on Thursday, one can even expect a ratio of ’50-50′ when it comes to crowd support.
Asked if the crowd factor could help his team lift their game, a smiling Shanto said, “Yes, obviously I hope so. Wherever we are going to play, there are a lot of supporters. They support us when we win or lose. So, that is a big part of this game and we feel the crowd will come tomorrow and support us.”
