3 player battles to watch out for in India vs Bangladesh, Super Fours, Match 6 of Asia Cup 2023
India will take on Bangladesh in the last match of the Super Fours round of the ongoing Asia Cup at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday, September 15. From the point of view of the tournament, the game is a dead rubber as India and Sri Lanka have already qualified for the final.
However, the match is an opportunity for the Men in Blue to rotate some of their players and try their bench strength. Having played back-to-back games against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma and Co. could certainly look to make a few changes to their side keeping workload management in mind.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, will also have similar thoughts about their team composition. Having lost against both Sri Lanka and Pakistan, they will be keen to step up against India and put up a good fight. On that note, let's take a look at the three interesting player battles possible from this game:
#3 Liton Das vs Mohammed Siraj
Liton Das and Mohammed Siraj were involved in a heated exchange during the Test series between the two nations in Bangladesh last year. Siraj is someone who doesn't mind having a chat with the batters in the middle as that arguably brings the best out of him.
This certainly could produce an interesting face-off between the duo once again on Friday. Siraj has conceded just 17 runs in the 22 balls that he has bowled to Das in ODIs and has already dismissed him twice. He will be itching to make the new ball talk and improve his record over the Bangladesh batter.
#2 Suryakumar Yadav vs Shakib Al Hasan
With India already having sealed a spot in the final, Suryakumar Yadav could get a game against Bangladesh. The No. 1 ranked T20I batter hasn't quite mastered the ODI format as he averages just 24.3 after 26 games. However, the team management has shown faith in him and he would certainly want to make it count.
SKY has struggled against left-arm spin even in the shortest format and that makes his battle with Shakib Al Hasan an intriguing one. In all T20 cricket, he has scored just 41 runs off 39 balls from Shakib and has been dismissed twice. It will be interesting to see if Suryakumar finds a way to score freely this time around.
#1 Rohit Sharma vs Shoriful Islam
Rohit Sharma is India's leading run-scorer in the Asia Cup so far with three back-to-back half-centuries. The is a great sign for the Men in Blue as one of their most important batters is finding form before the World Cup.
However, Rohit's woes against left-arm seamers, especially against the new ball, are well documented. He did manage to get through Shaheen Afridi's first spell in their Super Fours game against Pakistan and that probably would have given him a lot of confidence.
Left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam has nothing to lose and if he gets it right, he could cause problems for Rohit upfront.