T20 World Cup 2022: India's predicted playing XI against Bangladesh
Team India will look to rebound from their loss to South Africa in the Super 12 stage of the 2022 T20 World Cup when they face Bangladesh at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday, November 2.
India suffered their first loss in the T20 World Cup on Sunday, having gone down to South Africa by five wickets. Nevertheless, they're in a good position to make the semi-finals and won't look to shake things up too much ahead of the business end of the tournament.
Here is India's predicted playing XI for the T20 World Cup Super 12 clash against Bangladesh.
Openers: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul
Head coach Rahul Dravid has come out and openly backed KL Rahul, saying that the team management is well aware of what he can do on his day. Rahul needs to get his act together before it's too late, though.
His opening partner Rohit Sharma isn't at his best either. But India will be hopeful of their skipper coming up with another sizeable contribution against Bangladesh.
Middle order: Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik (wk)
Virat Kohli was bounced out by the Proteas, but Suryakumar Yadav was at his imperious best. The in-form duo will look to continue in the same vein.
India sprang a surprise at the toss against South Africa, deciding to field Deepak Hooda at the expense of Axar Patel. The all-rounder had a terrible outing in Perth as he bagged a three-ball duck and didn't bowl, but he might just hold on to his place in the side.
Bangladesh have four left-handers in their top six. The Men in Blue might not even need a left-handed batter, with the Tigers having no leg-spinner and their only left-arm spinner, Shakib Al Hasan, being in poor form with the ball. India could still opt to bring Axar back and shore up the bowling, but Hooda being retained makes the most sense right now.
Dinesh Karthik hasn't had a great T20 World Cup so far, and things went from bad to worse for him towards the end of India's clash against South Africa as he walked off the field with a back niggle. Dravid stated that a call will be taken on the veteran keeper on the morning of the Bangladesh clash. The fact that Karthik both batted and kept wickets in the team's final practice session, and Pant did neither, works in the former's favor.
If Karthik doesn't recover match fitness, Rishabh Pant could make his first appearance of the tournament.
All-rounder: Hardik Pandya
If Karthik doesn't make it to the side, Hardik Pandya could be tasked with the finisher's role. The all-rounder is one of India's most important players and will have fond memories of playing against Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup.
Bowlers: Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Ravichandran Ashwin didn't have a great outing against South Africa as he got his lengths wrong repeatedly, and a dropped catch didn't help matters. The off-spinner should be retained given the composition of Bangladesh's side, even though the Tigers are known to struggle against leg-spin.
The others in the bowling lineup, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammad Shami, haven't put a foot wrong thus far. They will want another cohesive performance.