India take on Bangladesh in the teams’ opening fixture of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. This tournament was initially supposed to be played in Pakistan. However, India refused to travel to Pakistan owing to tensions between the two nations. As a result, India’s fixtures will now be played in the United Arab Emirates.
India will likely get off to a good start against Bangladesh, as they are in the pinkest form. Head coach Gautam Gambhir received a lot of criticism for his team’s poor performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as they lost 1-3 to Australia over the winter. However, things are moving in the right direction. They recently beat England 4-1 in a T20I series and followed it up with a 3-0 drubbing in the one-day series soon afterward.
A lot of questions lingered over Indian players’ form, especially concerning Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Yet, they were good answers in the series against England. Sharma showcased why he is among the best openers in the world with a swashbuckling 119 off just 80 balls in the second ODI in Cuttack. At the same time, Kohli, who is often referred to as the master batter in the Indian setup, played a delightful knock of 52 in the final ODI in Ahmedabad.
Bangladesh, meanwhile, have not had the ideal preparation for the eight-nation tournament. They last played an ODI in December 2024 against the West Indies in the Caribbean. However, the surfaces there were not even remotely close to what they could expect in Pakistan. Yet, the Bangla Tigers have fond memories of playing cricket in Pakistan, as they beat their opponents 2-0 in a Test series in August 2024. Still, they would have hoped for better preparation with white-ball cricket looming ahead.
Bangladesh will aim to use the batting-friendly pitches in Pakistan to their advantage by fielding as many as seven in their lineup. With all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz appointed as the vice-captain ahead of the tournament, one can also expect a lot of changes in the strategy and tactics. Yet, they will face challenging opposition in India. The Bangla Tigers will be fortunate if they emerge unscathed from this challenge without a few marks.
Predicted Teams
BAN: Nazmul Hossain Shanto (c), Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan, Tawhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), MD Mahmud Ullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Nahid Rana.
IND: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh.
Key Players
Mehidy Hasan Miraz (BAN): All-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz has become a senior member of the Bangladesh team. He will be one of the key players to watch out for in this game. Miraz’s ability to star with bat and ball makes him a threat to the Indian cause. He will be the virtual leader of Bangladesh on the field. Miraz has recently improved his batting and is seen playing vital knocks for his country. Much of the credit for this has to go to Bangladesh’s thriving domestic cricket scene.
Virat Kohli (IND): Star batter Virat Kohli, who has gone through a rough patch of form ever since India lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia, will be keen on resurrecting himself in the Champions Trophy, and he will not get any better opponents than Bangladesh to test his skills upon. Kohli is among the best batters in one-day cricket in the world. He showed why he is regaining his form with a brilliant 52 against England in the third ODI of India’s recent series. The Delhi star also turned up for his state in the Ranji Trophy and has been putting in a lot of hard yards in training.
Match Prediction
India are the downright favourites to win this game, and not least because they come into this series on the back of a 3-0 whitewash over England. They also beat England 4-1 in the T20I series played ahead of the one-day series. Gautam Gambhir’s men are in prime form and will be keen on getting off to a good start in the Champions Trophy by virtue of a victory over their eastern rivals in this match. Bangladesh must play out of their skin to compete with India in this fixture.
