Albeit very closely, Bangladesh survived the group of death torture in the group stages. They defeated Nepal, Netherlands, and the favorites Sri Lanka to make it to the Super 8s second time. But none of that matters now. What matters is the ominous 1 in their defeats column and the fact that they have to face the high-flying India in their next game. India have a bowling lineup that’s more lethal than cyanide for the dearth of solid batting options in Bangladesh. But they can not afford to succumb to that. They can afford to see Bumrah making headlines once again against them. And that can only be avoided if their batters turn up into their trademark best.
India are also facing batting woes but not as ugly as Bangladesh. And most of them were masked by their phenomenal bowling attack. The top order especially has been quite disappointing. Although it has not hurt them so far, there is no guarantee that it will become better in the next matches or that it won’t hurt against teams with a better bowling lineup. Against Pakistan and the USA in the group stages, the batting lineup had almost gotten the Indian team out of the hunt, but thanks to the bowlers they made a comeback to get over the line. It remains to be seen how long can their bowling save the day for them.
Team Overview:
Jasprit Bumrah is making up for the time he lost during his injury by bowling as if his life depended upon it. Arshdeep Singh has also joined him in this batters hunt and that too pretty unexpectedly. It’s the batting that creates problems for them. Barring Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav, none of the other batsmen have done their job up to the mark. The highest run scorer from the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, Virat Kohli, has been the biggest letdown along with Shivam Dube. After his call, Dube’s strike rate took a huge toll, falling down from 169 to a mere 96. This is exacerbated by the fact that North Sound does not exactly have pitches that allow batters to find their lost form. Rohit Sharma can only hope that the consequences of this wretched batting form stay away from his team until the World Cup is over.
By a stroke of luck, Bangladesh faced their rivals Sri Lanka on the US pitches where their batters somehow chased 125 runs but the contest against Australia the other day showed that the batting lineup has flaws greater than what seems. Accumulating only 140 runs in 120 overs has miserable batting written all over it and adding to that, they don’t even have an India-esque bowling attack for the batters to hide behind. Only Towhid Hridoy and Najmul Hasan Shanto have struck at a rate higher than 100. Even they could not make the scoring rate go past 130. Facing Indian bowling with this batting lineup can only have one ending and that will do in all of the Bangladesh World Cup dreams.
Head-to-head Matches:
India has dominated the Bengal Tigers on almost every occasion both sides have met. Barring the encounter in Rajkot which was bested by Bangladesh, India has stood triumphant in the remaining 12 matches.
Weather and Pitch report:
The Antigua sky will remain clear of any grey cloud menace during the game on Saturday. The pitch offers a little something to everyone. The seamers get assistance early in the game while spinners can hope to get turn off the deck once it wears out later in the game. This ground is regarded as second highest run-scoring ground used in this tournament and a high-scoring match can be expected. The toss-winning captain would like to bowl first.
Prediction:
If everything goes according to the script that the universe has written for this matchup, India is likely to be the winner. Bangladesh would need to hope for something equivalent to a miracle to dominate the unscathed India.
Where to Watch:
- India – Star Sports
- Pakistan – PTV Sports, Ten Sports, Myco (Live streaming) and Tamasha app (Live streaming)
- USA and Canada – Willow TV
- England – Sky Sports Network
- Caribbean – ESPN Caribbean
- New Zealand & Australia – Sky Sports NZ, Prime Video
- Other regions – SuperSport, Sirasa, CricLife, STARZPLAY
