Bangladesh can finally get back to on field cricketing matters on Sunday when they begin their tour of India in the first of three T20 internationals, which act as further preparation for both sides ahead of the World T20 next year.
India will head to Australia as one of the favourites for the competition next year while Bangladesh will have to negotiate the first phase of that tournament before they get to take on the big boys, so they will look to build some positive form ahead of that.
India
This is the second T20 series of the summer for India after South Africa were challengers for them a few weeks ago. India negotiated that opposition pretty ruthlessly and they will be expected to do likewise to Bangladesh. That might not be as simple as it sounds though because quite rightly the home side are giving rests out to a few senior men ahead of an insanely busy period of cricket for the international outfit.
India are really improving with the ball in this format. They rarely go round the park in the powerplay and that is ideal for them because they are always going to put the squeeze on with the spinners. If there is a criticism, or a room for improvement in this Indian side it comes in finding another power hitter. On big grounds in Australia India will need someone who can give it a clonk and while they have a lot of batting, a fair bit of it is classy stroke play.
Bangladesh
After the shocking situation surrounding Shakib-al-Hasan, Bangladesh are likely to be looking forward to getting back on the cricket pitch and move on from that. With Shakib banned they are under new leadership here so it will be interesting to see what Mahmudullah brings to the party in that regard. His first assignment is a tough one but his side have little to lose which is a positive for them.
My attention is going to be on the Bangladesh bowling attack in this series. We saw in the 50 over World Cup in England earlier in the year that they now have a very fluent batting line up but we also saw that one or two bowlers can still go round the park, which just creates a bit of unnecessary or unhelpful pressure. These are conditions that should help their bowlers so if they can’t perform here in Delhi you worry for them.
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Team News
India are without Virat Kohli for this series as he is being rested. Rohit Sharma leads the side in his absence and he could well have Yuzvendra Chahal to call upon. There is talk that Shivam Dube will be given his debut.
As well as no Shakib for Bangladesh, there is no Tamim Iqbal or Mashrafe Mortaza either. Liton Das is likely to go up to open the batting while there could be a recall for Arafat Sunny after three years without a game in this format.
Betting
I’m expecting this series to be a higher scoring one than the one India played against South Africa. I say that because India will be under less pressure from this Bangladesh bowling attack while the tourists have batsmen who will enjoy these conditions more than the South African ones did. Therefore my tactic is to look at markets which show runs to be scored.
With that in mind, I’m intrigued that the total runs line for this one is 300.5. Both captains have said that the wicket looks good for batting here at the Feroz Shah Kotla and with the smog and heavy air that is around it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that the bowlers struggle towards the end of their spells. I like the idea of over here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 300.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
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