1.01pm: We’re running a minute or two late as Tanzid and Soumya stroll out to the middle. Mohammed Shami has the new ball. One slip, around the wicket. Another delay with someone moving in front of the sightscreen. Three minutes late now. Let’s go!
12.59pm: Rohit is addressing his players in a huddle on the outfield. India are bowling first, remember, after losing the toss. No Arshdeep Singh for them. Interesting call. Sanjay Manjrekar on our Matchday show is a big fan of Harshit Rana, who is playing ahead of him. Let’s see if he can make a big impact today.
12.52pm: Thanks, Al. The stands look fairly empty right now in Dubai. Let’s hope they fill up later in the day. Here come the match officials, followed by the players. Rohit and Shanto leading their teams out for the anthems. The crowd is Indian-dominated as you’d expect, but there are some Bangladesh fans in too.
Vishwa A: “Both the national anthems were written by the same great man! Gurudev Tagore!” — Great pub quiz trivia.
Sushil: “No left hand batsman for India in their top 6. Hmmm backing on Axar’s availability as batter and his flexibility to play up the order” — Axar is listed at No. 5 on the ICC’s teamsheet. Interesting to see if he comes out in that role.
If you are following us on the ESPNcricinfo app, please update it for optimal viewing of our live show – iOS app and Android app. Matt Roller is here to take you through the first hour’s play.
12.30pm Bangladesh have won the toss and they will bat. Najmul Hossain Shanto says he is very happy with the preparation of the team coming into the tournament. He highlights their ODI series win over India in 2022, which was the last time they played each other in the format. Three seamers and two spinners is the combination they’re going with. Tanzim Hasan in ahead of Nahid Rana.
Rohit Sharma says he would have fielded first. He bases that on their experience of playing here before, when batting was easier under lights. As for team changes, he says Kuldeep and Shami come back. Varun and Arshdeep miss out. So Rana picked for his hit the deck abilities ahead of the variation a left-arm quick brings.
India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Harshit Rana, 11 Mohammed Shami
Bangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Jaker Ali, 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Tanzim Hasan, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
Sakeb Choudhury: “Bangladesh has been nurturing some new talents in last couple of years. If they can configure their best XI measuring the condition and strategy, they are capable of creating an upset.”
Pitch report: The boundary down the ground is 82m. Looong hit. Square of the wicket though is interesting – 74m vs 62m. So a clear bias, one square boundary slightly shorter than the other. Fresh pitch, even though a whole ILT20 tournament had taken place here. Both teams expected it to be dry on match eve. The groundsman said they’ve had no dew in this year so far. Scores aren’t going to be so big, so batting first might have its advantage back.
Riyad: “Given BD’s lack of all-rounders (apart form Miraz), could there be a scenario where they are are forced to play Soumya even if he doesn’t score big?”
rajith: “its not a pitch where you can go all guns blazing from the word go, even a target around 260 will be a tougher one chasing i feel ”
Sifat Khawry : “India have indeed built a squad where multiple players can step up as match-winners, making them a formidable force in any format. The ability to have quality backups for almost every position ensures that even the absence of a key player like Bumrah doesn’t significantly weaken the team. This depth not only provides tactical flexibility but also sustains their dominance in world cricket.”
Prasanna S: “India would be keen to erase their forgettable T20 WC memories of 2021 in UAE. A Golden opportunity for them to make amends. More than the spinners doing their job, I believe the temperament of batsmen would be tested in these conditions. They just can’t go over their shots and need to grind it out in the middle. Play all the 50 overs.”
Plenty to choose from in the build-up to this big clash. Sidharth Monga is on our Live report and live ball-by-ball commentary of this game is available in Hindi too.
12.00pm Andrew Fidel Fernando had a little think about Rohit’s place in the pantheon of India’s batters and how they’ve gone in ICC tournaments. He also kinda sorta has a crush on Nahid Rana.
Cricfan: “@Ayush – on the contrary, it is very unfair for IND to always fend off these “unfair advantages to Ind” claims. These are not because of IND cricket team but due to broadcasting (business) as well as politics. Wherever it is held, typically IND does well in ICC tournaments 🙂 but the discussions keeps centered around these topics. “
Mustafa Moudi: “Fun Fact: Rohit Sharma is just 12 Runs away from Completing 11,000 ODI Runs. If reaches there today, he would be the 2nd Fastest to Reach the Milestone in terms of No. of innings, after his Teammate Kohli, who reached there in merely 222 Innings. Also, all the Top 3 Fastest to the Feat would be Indians – Virat Kohli (222), Rohit Sharma (260*) and Sachin Tendulkar (276) !!”
Ayush: “Nobody wants to talk about it, but it’s not fair that India is playing their matches in a different country altogether with different conditions than those in Pakistan. And this is coming from a lifelong Indian fan. Praying that one day the two countries will put aside the geopolitical tension for the 5 match India-Pakistan test series that the world wants to watch.”
Pranali: “I don’t expect you to publish this but 7 decades of trying to improve relationships through cricket did not make the political views go away and if anything only made it worse”
Ahsan: “On paper clearly india is stronger but what if BAN can win, will make PAK VS INDIA match more interesting, fight for survival” Their captain Najmul Hossain Shanto put things very clearly when he said they were “at the Champions Trophy to become champions.” He seems to have a good head on his shoulders and seems to be the kind of leader who makes his players want to give that little bit more. He’s got an excellent allrounder in Mehidy Hasan Miraz and the old pros Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah are still around. And all this without even coming to their much improved fast bowling and they have a World Cup winning coach taking care of their every need, along with a highly respected local coach helping facilitate connections.
Shakil Ahmad: “Among all eight participating teams, India is looking most formidable balanced and dangerous team despite no Bumrah. India has specialist players for all departments. Although all players are match winner but Hardik, Jadeja, Kuldeep and Gill will be main asset for India in this tournament. Threatening Australia is not in full strength due to unavailability of some key players. So I am not seeing any hurdle in team India.s win of this Trophy.”
Chris Silva: “Why is ICC subservient to BCCI? Any other country who refuses to play at the intended venue will forefit the right to points. Why is the ICC allowing India to do as they wish?”
11.30am The president was there. The air force put on a show. There were long winding crowds and smiles on faces that may well have wondered if they would ever see a global cricket tournament back on their shores again. This Champions Trophy means just a little more than many that has gone by, especially to Pakistan. But there’s a second version of it taking place side by side. Welcome to that Champions Trophy.
Dubai is a grand place and for the next two weeks or so it will be India’s home away from home. Maybe one day the conflict will end and they’ll feel just as comfortable in Lahore or Karachi. But for now their stars will adorn the ground under a ring of fire as they face off against Bangladesh in a clash that could be plenty spicy. My name is Alagappan Muthu. Matt Roller will be joining us soon. He’ll try to make it fun. I’ll actively put you to sleep. Okay, just passively.
Peeyush: “Although as cricket fans we would love to see Ind playing in Pak, but that does not take away the fact that the kind of threat other teams have in Pak is far lesser or none in comparison to what Ind team may have if they are in Pak. There is no point risking player’s safety over a game when the situations are so hostile between two countries.”