The second match in the ICC Champions Trophy sees the other two sides in Group A getting their campaign underway on Thursday when the tournament heads to Dubai for the all-Asia clash between Bangladesh and India.
These two begin the tournament at opposite ends of the expectation scale. India start out as the favourites to win the competition while Bangladesh are the rank outsiders. It will be interesting to see if that is how this one plays out.
Bangladesh
There are a few reasons why Bangladesh were the outsiders going into the tournament. The main one would be that they were the last team into the event having finished eighth in the league phase of the World Cup 15 months or so ago. The other reason is that they have had some big name retirements in this format since then and the other is because they have been inactive in ODI cricket in 2025. In fact, this is the first competitive 50 over game they will play since they lost an ODI series in the Caribbean at the back end of 2024.
Bangladesh actually have a bowling attack which should be quite useful but the problem is that too few of the younger element of their batting have shown that they are at this level and they are paying the price for that. There are still a couple of senior figures around with the bat and they are going to have to perform and do so to their best if Bangladesh are going to be competitive in this match let alone the competition as a whole.
India
India head into the tournament as the favourites to win it and they showed why when they dominated England in an ODI series recently. There are one or two personnel issues to deal with for the Indians but they have shown throughout the last 15 months since they made the World Cup final on home soil that they are more than deep enough in quality to be able to account for a couple of absentees and now they get the chance to do it on the global stage.
Against England, India were in incredible form with the bat and if they can continue to power their way through the powerplay and set up the innings so that those coming in can keep on going then they are going to be a daunting team to face because they have a bowling unit that can be useful in any conditions, especially here where the wickets do tend to have a bit in them for the bowlers. India will be out to set the tone for the next couple of weeks here.
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Team News
India have a doubt over Rishabh Pant for their opening match of the tournament, although it could be that KL Rahul keeps his place in the side in any case. There is no Jasprit Bumrah for this competition so Mohammad Shami is expected to lead the attack.
Shakib Al Hasan is a thing of the past for Bangladesh in this format of the game and Litton Das hasn’t been selected either so there will be plenty of focus on Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah to deliver with the bat.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets for this second match of the tournament with the first of them coming in the form of under 521.5 runs. This isn’t a high scoring ground at the best of times but when you consider we haven’t long had the ILT20 competition being played here then it is hard to see the pitches being in absolute pristine condition. I would say that Bangladesh are better with the ball than the bat and India certainly have the bowlers to keep the Bangladesh batters quiet. India aren’t guaranteed to race away here though so a run line which is likely to need both sides to score in excess of 250 looks an ounce or two too high.
I’ll also play the 7/1 on Mahmudullah to be the leading Bangladesh run scorer in this match. I do think experience is going to count for something in this tournament and I think the pitches might get easier to bat on against the older ball and the new fielding restrictions probably helps cameos down the order as well. Mahmudullah averages 36 in ODI cricket and has 32 50s in the format and something like those numbers could be enough here. He had a few decent cameos in the Bangladesh Premier League recently and has the experience to get himself in before getting expansive. He feels value at 7/1.
Tips
Back Under 521.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Betway
Back Mahmudullah Top Bangladesh Batter for a 1/10 stake at 8.00 with BetVictor
