World Cup: Bangladesh sans Shakib, win toss and elect to bowl

Bangladesh won the toss against India in a 2023 ICC World Cup league match and elected to bat at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Thursday.

India have retained the side that won the last two encounters against Pakistan and Afghanistan but the Bangladeshis are missing regular skipper Shakib al Hasan, who is out injured, and are being led by Najmul Hossain Shanto.

“Shakib is struggling [with injury]. This (captaincy) is a proud moment for me and my family. We would like to bat since it looks to be a fresh wicket. If we put up a good score, we can do well,” said Shanto after the toss.

Sharma, however, said that they would have anyway bowled first.

While Rohit Sharma’s men have won all their three matches so far after bowling first and are second on the points table behind New Zealand, Bangladesh are coming on the back of losses in the last two games. They are sixth in the table having won only against Afghanistan.

India beat Australia by six wickets, Afghanistan by eight wickets and Pakistan by seven wickets while Bangladesh defeated Afghanistan by six wickets, lost to England by 137 runs and lost to New Zealand by eight wickets.

Teams:

India playing XI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Bangladesh playing XI: Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Litton Das, Tanzid Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicket-keeper), Mahmudullah, Nasum Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam