India captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and sent
Bangladesh into bat first in the three-match T20 International series opening
game at Gwalior today.
The stadium is hosting any International game for the first time after 14
years, albeit in a brand new venue.
With this match, Bangladesh will begin their life without Shakib Al Hasan,
the last man who played the country’s inaugural T20 game in 2006.
Bangladesh are, however, determined to do something special, said its captain
Najmul Hossain Shanto.
“It’s a new-look side for Bangladesh as well, and I hope we’ll do something
special today,” Shanto told the broadcasters after the toss.
Shanto said he would have wanted to bowl first, but “Now we hope the openers
will do well to set up a good platform upfront.”
“We have three seamers and two spinners in our bowling line up,” he added.
Bangladesh (644 caps) have a more experienced T20I squad than India (389
caps) in this series.
India which have been in transition process in this format following
the
retirement of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, handed debut to
fast bowler Mayank Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
“Looks humid, don’t think the wicket will change later on,” said India
captain Suryakuma, explaining his decision to bowl first despite winning the
toss.
“Always a great feeling coming back home and playing in home conditions. We
are really excited for that. There’s a lot of talent involved in the group.
The energy is great and most importantly, the guys are keen to learn. That’s
a great thing.”
Line Ups:
Bangladesh: Liton Das(w), Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Parvez Hossain Emon,
Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah Riyad, Jaker Ali Anik, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad
Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam.
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Suryakumar Yadav(c), Nitish Kumar
Reddy, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Varun
Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh and Mayank Yadav.
Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha