India skipper Rohit Sharma called it right at the all-important toss and opted to bat first that the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. Rohit also mentioned that India superstar Virat Kohli will miss the clash. (More Cricket News)
The fixture, some may argue a burgeoning one, represents one of the most intense rivalries in world cricket. But India, having won all their four previous T20 World Cup meetings against Bangladesh, are the overwhelming favourites tonight.
India are in Group A of the tournament and will take on Ireland at the same venue on Wednesday (June 5) to kick start their campaign. It will be followed by fixtures against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 9 (Sunday) and the co-hosts United States of America on June 12 (Wednesday), both at Nassau, before their final group game against Canada at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill, Florida on June 15 (Sunday). All the matches have a 10:30am local (8:00pm IST) kick-off time.
The match also marked the return of wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant in national colours.
Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto talking about the conditions: "We would have bowled. We'll have to adjust the conditions and I want to know how the bowlers do. The boys have enjoyed themselves so far here, we are going to play with 13 players - Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahim have been rested.
The Tigers will start their group stage engagements in the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup with a clash against former champions Sri Lanka at Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas on June 7 (Saturday) local time.
They will then travel to New York for their second Group D outing against South Africa, scheduled for June 10 (Monday) before heading to St Vincent for matches against the Netherlands on June 13 (Thursday) and Nepal on June 16 (Sunday) -- both at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Shakib Al Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali, Tanvir Islam, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib
