Tigers elect to bowl against India in overcast Adelaide

Bangladesh have won the toss and elected to bowl in their T20 World Cup Super 12 fixture against India in overcast conditions at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.

Bangladesh made one change to their squad for this fixture as they picked an extra pacer. Shoriful Islam comes in for Soumya Sarkar as the Tigers opted to go with four seamers in the eleven. 

"Don't know what the best score is on this pitch. Know what's coming at us, we're well prepared. Boys gelling well together, everyone looking forward to this. Need to continue doing good things. Batting is one area we can improve. Our fast bowling terrific," Shakib said at the toss. 

India, too, have made one change with Axar Patel coming in for Deepak Hooda for this game.      

Things have taken an interesting turn in the Group 2 with four teams, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe, still in contention to make it to the semifinals. The Netherlands are the only side eliminated from the group stage. 

Even though Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan has downplayed their chances of beating India today, the Tigers would definitely like to cause an upset today, and also in their next game against Pakistan, in order to leave nothing to fate when it comes to ensuring their first-ever T20 World Cup semifinal spot. 

However, it's worth mentioning that the Tigers' campaign may just hang by a thread even if they lose against India, or the game washes out today, which remains a possibility with rain in forecast.

There is a historical rivalry tied to Bangladesh-India clashes. The last time the two sides met in the World Cup resulted in a heartbreaking one-run defeat for the Tigers in Bengaluru in 2016.

Bangladesh will be hoping to learn how to win close matches, especially against a limping India, who will be equally hungry for a win that will take them closer to a semifinal spot. They can also take heart from their last game at Adelaide, which saw the Tigers defeat England in the 2015 World Cup and book a place in the quarterfinals.

Playing XI:

Bangladesh: 1 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 2 Litton Das, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Afif Hossain, 5 Nurul Hasan (wk), 6 Mosaddek Hossain, 7 Yasir Ali, 8 Taskin Ahmed, 9 Mustafizur Rahman, 10 Hasan Mahmud, 11 Shoriful Islam

India: 1 KL Rahul, 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Arshdeep Singh