The Indian team, which has secured a place in the final, would like to test its bench strength against already eliminated Bangladesh in the last match of the 'Super Four' of the Asia Cup in Colombo on Friday. The Rohit Sharma-led team will think deeply about whether to give maximum game time to its first-choice team or give a chance to some of its potential players ahead of the World Cup to be held on home soil next month.
Bumrah can be given rest
This question of workload management is especially important for bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah has bowled only 12 overs so far in the Asia Cup, which includes five against Pakistan and seven against Sri Lanka. He did not even play against Nepal. Therefore, it will depend on Bumrah whether he wants to bowl in one more match or go directly for the final on September 17.
Whereas, Mohammad Siraj has bowled 19.2 overs and Hardik Pandya has bowled 18 overs in this tournament. These overs may not seem like much, but the humidity in Colombo is so high that it reduces a lot of the bowler's energy, hence the team management would like to give a break to one of them. Talking in this context, if Shami takes the field in place of Bumrah or Siraj against Bangladesh, then it will not be a surprising decision.
This will help the senior fast bowler to get some important 'match time' before the World Cup starting on October 5. This is also important because Shami is being used as a 'backup' fast bowler to Bumrah, Siraj, and Pandya.
Akshar has taken only three wickets in seven ODIs
For the 'think tank', the decline in Axar Patel's bowling graph will be a matter of concern as he is used as cover for Ravindra Jadeja. This left-arm spinner is neither able to take wickets nor can control the run rate. Akshar has played seven ODIs this year and has been able to take only three wickets at an economy rate of six. He needs to improve his game quickly.
With KL Rahul fully fit and his return, a lot of the problems of team management have been reduced. He has batted intelligently by staying at the crease. After the match against Sri Lanka, Rahul spoke at length about the clarity given by the team management on his role that he would be India's main wicketkeeper less a middle-order batsman.
Shreyas Iyer batted in the nets, likely to play
Therefore, it can be assumed that Rahul will continue to fulfill his responsibility against Bangladesh. At the same time, eyes will be on the fitness of Shreyas Iyer because he could not play in the 'Super Four' match against Pakistan and Sri Lanka due to back stiffness.
However, he batted and bowled in the nets without any problem on Thursday, which is good news for the team, but if the team management wants to give some extra time to this Mumbai player to recover, then he would consider Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav. Can try any one option.
Kishan has impressed in ODIs so far, but Suryakumar has not done so well in this format. Despite this, Suryakumar is being seen as an important player of the Indian ODI team, and the 'think tank' would like to give him another chance.
Mushfiqur will not play for Bangladesh
Talking about Bangladesh, they will not get the services of wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim in this match and Liton Das is expected to do the wicketkeeping. Mushfiqur has returned home after the 21-run defeat in the Super-4 match against Sri Lanka. However, their captain Shakib Al Hasan has rejoined the team after spending time with his family.
Probably playing-11 of both teams
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer/KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan/Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur/Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami/ Jasprit Bumrah.
Bangladesh: Mehdi Hasan Miraj, Tanjeed Hasan/Mohammad Naim, Liton Das (wk), Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Tauheed Hridoy, Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmood.
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