Johnson Cherian.
Rohit Sharma will be back in his familiar opening position looking to get some quality batting practice when India takes on Bangladesh in its final warm-up game before the Champions Trophy opener against Pakistan.
After a convincing 45-run victory over New Zealand in a rain-curtailed opening warm-up match, Virat Kohli will pray that his batsmen get some more game time than the 26 overs they got the other day.
For Rohit, it will be back to the opening slot, having batted down the order during the better part of the Indian Premier League.
It will be like a completion of a cycle for Rohit, whose limited-over career was transformed by M.S. Dhoni’s inspired decision to promote him up the order during India’s successful Champions Trophy campaign in 2013.
One of the biggest reasons for India’s success was the Rohit-Shikhar Dhawan duo, which is again back to face the new ball in conditions that will be pretty familiar to the one they encountered four years ago.
With Ajinkya Rahane failing as an opener in the first warm-up game, even the remotest thoughts of a change at the top, if there was one at all, will not be entertained by the team management.
Kohli, after a well-compiled half-century in the first game, would prefer another good hit out there in the middle along with M.S. Dhoni, who looked impressive during his brief stint.
It is still not clear whether Yuvraj Singh, recovering from a bout of viral fever, will be available on Tuesday or not. The veteran also needs some batting practice ahead of the Pakistan game.
The skipper would also like to give Kedar Jadhav a chance to get a decent hit.
Bangladesh has been a very decent side in 50-over cricket. A testimony to its quarterfinal finish in the 2015 World Cup.
The pace quartet of Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza can prove to be more than a handful for any opposition.
In fact, India lost an ODI away series to Bangladesh in 2015 when Mustafizur was relatively new to international cricket.
India’s bowling attack, however, looked good against the Kiwis, bowling them out for 189.
Happy problems
There are some ‘happy problems’ for skipper Kohli, who has three potent new ball options in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami.
The bulk of the death overs will be taken care of by yorker specialist Jasprit Bumrah.
The other issue that Kohli needs to address is his lead spinner.
Ravindra Jadeja’s all-round abilities in the shorter format are more recognised than that of R. Ashwin, who has been a powerhouse performer for India in Test cricket.
The second match will give a fair idea of what exactly will be India’s playing XI going into the opening fixture.
The squads (from):
India: Shikhar Dhawan (Capt.), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, R. Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Dinesh Karthik and Ajinkya Rahane.
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah Riyadh, Shakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mashrafe Mortaza (Capt.), Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Mehedi Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Sunzamul Islam and Shafiul Islam.
