India vs Bangladesh: Champions Trophy 2025 Preview

The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will feature a match between India and Bangladesh on February 20, 2025, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, starting at 2:30 PM IST. India’s matches are hosted in Dubai due to political reasons, while Pakistan remains the official host. Rohit Sharma captains India, and Najmul Hossain Shanto leads Bangladesh.

Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first. Rohit Sharma mentioned that he would have fielded first. The match is broadcast on Star Sports and Network 18, with live streaming on JioHotstar.

Weather and Pitch Conditions

The weather forecast predicts temperatures between 22°C and 27°C with overcast conditions. There’s a minimal chance of rain, though some forecasts suggest scattered showers in the afternoon. The pitch at Dubai International Cricket Stadium generally favors seamers initially, with spinners becoming relevant later. Teams batting second have historically had an advantage at this venue.

Predicted Playing XIs

The predicted playing XI for India includes Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, and Kuldeep Yadav. Bangladesh’s predicted XI includes Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Taskin Ahmed, and Mustafizur Rahman.

Players to Watch

Key players to watch include India’s Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami, and Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan Miraz. India has won 32 of the 41 ODIs against Bangladesh, losing 8. In the Champions Trophy, India defeated Bangladesh in their only encounter in 2017.

Recent Form

India’s recent form in their last five completed matches is WWWLL (most recent first). Bangladesh’s recent form is LLLLW.

Team News

There was some concern around Rishabh Pant after he was hit in the knee at training, but he doesn’t make India’s strongest ODI XI with KL Rahul the preferred wicketkeeper batter. Mohammed Shami has worked his way back up to fitness, although his pace seems a bit off from its usual peaks. Arshdeep Singh will likely take the second seamer’s spot ahead of Harshit Rana.

A few familiar faces are not part of this Bangladesh squad, notably Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Das. But other old pros like Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah remain crucial to the cause. Tanzid Hasan at the top of the order has good recent form to carry him, having finished the second-highest scorer at the BPL.

India (probable):

1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Arshdeep Singh

Bangladesh (probable):

1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Nahid Rana, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Pitch and Conditions

Dubai, which will host all of India’s matches in the Champions Trophy, is not a regular venue for ODI cricket between top-tier teams. Even otherwise, the last 50-over game here took place in March 2024, between Scotland and Canada. There have only been four totals of 300 or more in 58 matches held there. The weather is set fair and both teams are expecting a pitch on the slightly drier side of the spectrum.

Stats and Trivia

Since his debut in June 2017, Kuldeep Yadav has been the most potent bowler in the middle overs of ODI cricket with 139 wickets at an average of 27.8 and an economy rate of 4.88.

In 12 ODIs since the end of the last ODI World Cup, Bangladesh have maintained a scoring rate of 4.93 through the middle overs, the lowest among the teams competing in the Champions Trophy.

Since March 2022, among 56 batters to score 1000 runs or more, Shubman Gill has the highest average – 63.4.

Bangladesh are without Shakib at a major tournament for the first time since 2004. Mehidy Hasan Miraz will have to shoulder that burden and he’s done so before, most famously when he rescued his team from 69 for 6 to win the series against India in 2022.

Both India and Bangladesh last played an ODI in Dubai in 2018.

Quotes

“He doesn’t bowl too many variations to us in the nets. He bowls just one type of delivery. Maybe, he doesn’t want to show his variations to us, even. But that is a good thing. He has got certain weapons which he wants to just put out there when it actually matters. I am more than happy if he wants to do that.” – Rohit Sharma on Varun Chakravarthy

Tymal Mills commented on Bangladesh’s start, noting that Najmul Hossain Shanto’s early dismissal was a setback for the team.