Team India are overwhelming favourites to oust Bangladesh in the second semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 on Thursday. The Indian team qualified for the semi-final of the competition after two comprehensive wins – first against arch-rivals Pakistan, and then when they destroyed South Africa - the top-ranked team in the ICC ODI rankings. Bangladesh meanwhile are in the semi-finals because of their upset win against New Zealand, weather forcing other teams to split points, and certain other results going their way.
(Read: Bangladesh’s Recent Record vs India Shows They Won’t Be Pushovers)
India’s Impressive Record
Trivia: India have the most wins ever in the ICC Champions Trophy; they’ve won 17 matches out of 27 in the competition. Bangladesh have the fewest wins; they’ve won only 2 matches in the five events they’ve been part of!
Team India has cultivated this habit of making it to the knockout stages of big tournaments. Since the turn of the century, India have in fact competed in more knockouts in ODIs than any other team; winning 14 of the 21 they’ve played, losing only 5 others.
India have appeared in the last-four stage in six of the last seven ICC competitions (ODIs & T20Is).
India vs Bangladesh
If one were to pick favourites based on performances in the tournament so far, India are way superior to Bangladesh.
On the batting front, where Team India averages 75.73 runs per wicket, Bangladesh have lost 21 wickets in three matches – nearly twice the corresponding number of India – and average 35.95 runs per wicket.
On the bowling front, the Indian bowlers have dismissed their opponents twice in three matches and have a tournament strike-rate of 34.59, while the Bangladesh bowlers have a tournament strike-rate of 61.82 balls per wicket.
Bangladesh have plenty to worry about and plan for; India’s batting line-up is stacked up with plenty of ammunition.
Shikhar Dhawan has scored a century and two half-centuries in three outings in the 2017 Champions Trophy, while his opening partner Rohit Sharma has two half-centuries in three innings. India’s captain Virat Kohli has scored unbeaten half-centuries on either side of the duck against Sri Lanka. Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni too have scored a half-century in the middle-order to complete an in-form top-five.
Bangladesh’s Danger-Men
Where the Indian team is concerned, they will be wary of two players in particular – the ‘Fizz’ and Taskin Ahmed. It was against India that Mustafizur Rahman carved a reputation for himself; the ‘Fizz’ returned figures of 5/50, 6/43 and 2/57 in the three ODIs he has played against India so far. Mustafizur hasn’t been as prolific since his return from injury, but the Indian team will know all too well what he is capable of.
(Read: Upsets & Setbacks: Bangladesh’s Decades Long Journey to India S/F)
Taskin too has stunning numbers against India; he has taken 12 wickets in 5 ODIs against India at an average of 13.08. Against other teams, Taskin has taken 31 wickets in 23 matches, has an average of 32.16 and a strike-rate of 32.61.
Given their familiarity from playing Mustafizur Rahman in the nets while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh must surely know a thing or two compared to the rest of the batsmen in the Indian line-up, and hence the two left-handers will be expected to take toll of the left-arm seamer.
Yuvraj’s Landmark
The semi-final against Bangladesh will be a special occasion for Yuvraj Singh in particular. If one were to roll back the years, it was in the ICC Champions Trophy in 2000 (known then as the ICC Knockout Competition) that Yuvraj made his India debut; 17 years later, if and when he takes the field on Thursday, he will be playing his 300th One-Day International. Just to put Yuvraj’s milestone in context, only four other cricketers – out of the 216 who have represented India in the ODIs - have been able to play 300 ODIs or more.
Head to Head
Historically, India have bossed Bangladesh; Team India has a 26-5 win-loss record in ODIs against Bangladesh. However, the Indian camp will be well aware of what Bangladesh are capable of; Bangladesh have hurt India on the big-stage once previously – in the World Cup 2007; at Port-of-Spain, they dismissed India for 191 and then went on to win by 5 wickets, thereby denting India’s chances of progressing past the group-stage of the competition. Even recently, when the Indian team visited Bangladesh for a 3-match ODI series in 2015, the hosts prevailed – winning the series 2-1.
Bangladesh are clearly the underdogs; they will approach this match with a ‘nothing-to-lose’ attitude and that could make them a dangerous opponent. But this Indian has plenty of experienced heads and a line-up of match-winners. Expect India to cruise to the Final.
Follow updates from the match on our live blog at http://www.thequint.com/section/sports; match begins at 3p.m IST.
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