2nd T20: India keen to bounce back against Bangladesh
March 08, 2018  18:30
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Welcome to the coverage of the second match of the T20 tri-series between India and Bangladesh in Colombo, on Thursday.

India's second-string team led by Rohit Sharma will be keen to bounce back after their opening loss to Sri Lanka in the tournament opener.

Sri Lanka, who have been beaten fair and square by India in their umpteen battles over the past six months, pulled one back in style on Tuesday courtesy Kusal Perera's swashbuckling knock of 66 from 37 balls.

The home team's surprise victory has also spiced up the tournament, which many expected to be dominated by India, despite fielding a second-string team.

Defending a decent 174 for five, the inexperienced bowling attack did not have an answer to Perera's relentless aggression. Yuvzendra Chahal, the only frontline spinner in the eleven, too was not spared.

How Rohit and Dhawan start will always be important for India's chances but against Bangladesh, they would like to score more in the death overs than they did against Sri Lanka.

Rohit is not expected to make many changes in the eleven but Axar Patel, who is the most experienced spinner in the squad, might play alongside Chahal.

The talented KL Rahul too sat out of the first game but as the opening combination is settled, it remains to be seen if he gets to bat in the middle-order.

Washington Sundar was the pick of the bowlers against Sri Lanka, striking twice at an acceptable economy rate of seven runs per over.

In the absence of the rested Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the likes of Shardul Thakur and Jaydev Unadkat need to up their game in the unforgiving death overs. Thakur leaked as many as 27 runs in his first over against Sri Lanka but bounced back well to concede only three in his next attempt.

Facing Bangladesh in the shortest format has always been challenging for India and it will be no different on Thursday.

Mahmudullah will continue to lead the side in absence of the injured Shakib Al Hasan, who also missed the T20 and Test series against Sri Lanka at home.

Having lost the Tests, T20s and the ODI tri-series final to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh will be desperate to buck the recent trend.
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