Chittagong: Plagued by injuries and fitness issues, India will aim to prevent a clean sweep by the hosts when they enter the third and final ODI against Bangladesh on Saturday. Bangladesh has won the first two matches and series on the basis of two brilliant innings of Mehidy Hasan Miraj but now it will aim to sweep India and if it happens then it will be historic for Bangladesh cricket.
This will also boost Bangladesh’s confidence ahead of the Test series starting on 14 December. India had 20 cricketers available for this series as there was less time between the first ODI in Bangladesh and the last match in New Zealand as both teams had some players in common. Within a week, however, things went from bad to worse with only 14 fit players available for the last match.
Circumstances being that wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav had to be called in immediately as the Indian bowling attack looked inexperienced. Kuldeep has taken 118 wickets in 72 ODIs and is the most experienced bowler in this team. Regular skipper Rohit Sharma dislocated his left thumb and promising fast bowler Kuldeep Sen suffered a hamstring injury after playing his first match. Fast bowler Deepak Chahar has once again become unfit.
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Axar Patel is injured in the rib and could not play the first match while Rishabh Pant is also injured and had to be rested. It remains to be seen whether stand-in captain and wicket-keeper batsman KL Rahul opens the innings or Ishan Kishan is included in the playing XI as an opener. The other option would be to open the innings with Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan and include all-rounder Rahul Tripathi in the playing XI.
If the team management chooses only a batsman, then Rajat Patidar may get a chance to make his debut. India’s bowling was commanded by Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar and Akshar Patel. Due to poor bowling in the first match, India had to face defeat when Bangladesh had to score 51 runs and had only one wicket left, which the Indian team could not take.
In the second match, Bangladesh scored more than 200 runs after falling for six wickets. Bangladesh’s spirits will be high in the last match. Barring the series win against Zimbabwe, KL Rahul has a poor record as captain and would like to avoid the embarrassment of a ‘clean sweep’.
Teams as follows:
India: KL Rahul (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Mohammad Siraj, Rajat Patidar, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akshar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Umran Malik, Kuldeep Yadav.
Bangladesh: Liton Das (Captain), Anamul Haque Bijay, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Mehdi Hasan Miraj, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmood, Ibadat Hossain Chowdhary, Nasum Ahmed, Mahmudullah, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Qazi Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shariful Islam.
Match Timings: 11 in the afternoon From 30 (agency)