Bangladesh’s qualification for the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy shows how far they’ve come as a team as they got through a tough group that included England, Australia and New Zealand.
They started their campaign with a defeat despite putting up a 300+ total on the board against hosts England. In the next game which was against Australia, their final four hopes just about stayed alive as rain forced the two teams to share points.
Then came one of Bangladesh’s finest moments in their ODI history as they got the better of New Zealand, chasing down a target of 266 after being reduced to 33-4. The experienced duo of Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah put on a record partnership for The Tigers in ODIs as they added 224 runs for the fifth wicket.
Following Bangladesh’s win over the Kiwis, England defeated Australia which meant that Mashrafe Mortaza’s side made it to the semi-finals which is a terrific achievement for a team that has grown from strength to strength in recent years.
View from Champions Trophy: Serial semi-finalists India not taking Bangladesh lightly | @chetannarula #CT17 #INDvBANhttps://t.co/6VNTMFnwG9 pic.twitter.com/fJdhNAXqGB
— Sport360° (@Sport360) June 14, 2017
India came into the tournament as one of the favourites and they justified that tag in their opening game as they beat Pakistan by 124 runs. But they soon suffered a blip as they were defeated by Sri Lanka in their second match.
That meant that India’s last group game against South Africa was a virtual quarter-final and Virat Kohli’s team put on a convincing all-round display to register a comfortable victory over the Proteas.
The form of Shikhar Dhawan is something that will please the Indian camp, with the left-handed batsman currently being the top run-getter (271 runs in three innings) in the tournament.
The defending champions included Ravichandran Ashwin in their playing eleven in the last match and the off-spinner is likely to feature again on Thursday.
![India beat Bangladesh in the warm-up match between the two sides [Getty Images]](https://sport360.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/India-Bangladesh.jpg)
India beat Bangladesh in the warm-up match between the two sides [Getty Images]
Date: June 15, 2017 (Thursday)
Time: 13:30 GST, 10:30 local, 09:30 GMT, 15:00 IST, 14:30 PKT
Venue: Edgbaston, Birmingham
TV: UAE – OSN Sports Cricket HD
Full coverage on Sport360.com.
PROBABLE BANGLADESH XI: Tamim, Sarkar, Sabbir, Mushfiqur (wk), Shakib, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek, Taskin, Mortaza (c), Rubel, Mustafizur.
PROBABLE INDIA XI: Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli (c), Yuvraj, Dhoni (wk), Jadhav, Pandya, Jadeja, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah.
SPORT360 MATCH PREDICTION: While Bangladesh are a team that is playing some good cricket at the moment, India go into this game as favourites.
