Four years on f ro m Bangladesh’s win over India, the two neighbours will face each other again at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Bangladesh will play hosts to India at Dhaka and will be playing with a level of home advantage,
but India are adept at playing in Bangladesh where conditions are quite similar to those at home.By my reckoning, Team India are stronger — they are tournament favourites and have a tough and well-balanced side that is capably led by MS Dhoni. Based on the strengths of the two teams, the Castrol Predictor gives India a 77% chance of victory with Bangladesh as firm underdogs. The Bangladeshis have only won two out of the last 10 matches against India, but it would still be dangerous for the latter to underestimate the Bangla Tigers.
Bangladesh’s standout player has to be their young captain Shakib Al Hasan. Not only has he weathered the pressure of captaincy, but he comes into this tournament with fantastic form as the best Bangladeshi batsman; he has an average of over 45 in his last 10 innings, which is more than 50% higher than his career average. He is also the top Bangladeshi bowler, with a bowling average of just 17.62 in recent matches. He attacks with the ball and has taken wickets in all but four of the 27 ODIs he played in 2010. Overall, Bangladesh have a solid bowling attack, but it is the batting that is a worry. Other than Shakib, only a few batsmen have a better recent form than their career averages, none of which are higher than 30.
The Indian bowlers will target this weakness and try to roll the Tigers over quickly. Pacemen Zaheer and Munaf Patel both have good recent form coming into this match and although Yuvraj has not been at his best with the bat, he has been making up for that with his spin bowling. However, the Indian who could give Bangladesh the biggest headache could well be Yusuf Pathan. Not only does he have some terrific recent form with the bat, but he is also doing well with the ball and is just behind Yuvraj in recent rankings. His recent two centuries prove that he has the ability to build a big innings and that should make the opposition wary.
Team India is stronger in every department, although the Bangladeshi bowling rates just below India’s. I do believe that they could prove very worrisome to the Indians and I am eagerly awaiting the outcome of this contest.
