Key events
I missed the bit where Rohit said at the toss India were going to bat. I’ve made this point before: if I were an international cricket captain (available if selected!), I would always say at the toss I was going to do whatever I was asked to do upon losing it.
Ian Chappell: "Righto, you’ve lost the toss at the Gabba, it’s 44 degrees and you’re going to be in the field on a road. How do you feel about that mighty task?”
Me: “Yeah good as gold, we were going to have a bowl anyway – no dramas mate.”
This group is pretty chilled out. Provided India and Australia win today, against Bangladesh and Afghanistan respectively, they are both through and their clash two days from now would become a dead rubber. But it’s far less clear on the other side of the draw. South Africa, who have won both of their Super 8s games, are actually in the death spot due to the busy work of the Windies overnight. To get a handle on all of that, tune into Daniel Norcross’ analysis overnight on The Final Word pod.
Drop me a line throughout the match. Emails here, twitter (yes, I’m still there – I’ll be the last person on the platform; I’ll never leave! You can’t make me leave!) here.
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das (wk), Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali, Rishad Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman
It’s off-spinner Mehedi coming in for Taskin… that’s a huge call.
Per my preamble, this is what Bangladesh needed. They’ve made one change, leaving out Taskin! Surely that’s because of injury rather than omission or team balance? Rohit says they need to assess the surface as quickly as possible before getting on with it. They are unchanged from the side that defeated Afghanistan.
This looks a mismatch. India have seldom needed their top gear during this tournament but it’s clear that it is a very impressive one. As for Bangladesh, after advancing from the weakest group they were bullied by Australia two days ago to begin their Super 8s campaign. If the favourites salute in this Saturday morning fixture in Antigua, it will guarantee that the boys in blue are semi-final bound.
Bangladesh’s progress to the second stage of this World Cup was earned in large part by their lively and capable fast bowling trio: Tanzim Hasan Shakib, Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman. Their best chance here is to bowl first and put Kohli and co under pressure. Under almost any other scenario, the Tigers need a lot to go right.
Toss 3pm BST, first ball 3.30pm.