Nidahas T20 trophy: Confident India start as favourite against gutsy Bangladesh in tri-series final

BCCI

Colombo: A bitter, yet intense rivalry is expected to produce a cracker of a contest when a confident India take on a fiery Bangladesh in the final of the Nidahas Twenty20 tri-series on Sunday.

While the second-string Indian team recorded a hat-trick of comfortable wins after their opening loss to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh reached the summit clash with a couple of dramatic wins over the hosts.

The tense encounter on Friday night, in which they beat Sri Lanka with Mahmudullah rising to the occasion with a second last-ball six, will give the Tigers immense confidence.

Be that as it may, Shakib Al Hasan was lucky to get away with a relatively small fine and one demerit point for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the match, and he will be especially charged up to prove a point or two. 

Unlike India's rivalry with Pakistan and Australia, there isn't any significant cricketing history attached to India-Bangladesh matches.

But since their 2015 World Cup quarterfinal defeat in Melbourne where they felt a few umpiring decisions went against them, the tiny nation of cricket fanatics consider India to be their biggest on-field rivals.

Bangladeshi players' skills don't match their zeal always but there will be no inches given when the likes of Shakib, Mushfiqur Rahim or Mahmudullah step onto the field.

However, in terms of sheer talent, the Indian team is a cut above their Bangladeshi counterparts.

Man to man, the opening pair of Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan have scored runs across the globe even though Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das are good on their day.

Dhawan has scored close to 200 runs in the tournament while skipper Rohit is back in form after an 89 off 61 balls against the same opposition in the team's last match.

None from the 22 players has more experience than Suresh Raina in the shortest format and Soumya Sarkar a long way to go before he can be compared with the Indian left-hander.

Dinesh Karthik and Mushfiqur Rahim are fairly on an equal footing as far as batting is concerned although the Tamil Nadu glovesman has shown composure more often in pressure cooker scenarios.

Manish Pandey may not be as experienced as Mahmudullah in international cricket but Pandey's 10 years of IPL cricket holds him in good stead.

In the bowling department, Shardul Thakur has been steady and Washington Sundar's Powerplay bowling has been India's biggest gain from this tour.

Vijay Shankar has also been impressive but unlucky at times because of the number of catches dropped off his bowling.

However, the only worry for India will be second specialist seamer. Both Jaydev Unadkat and Mohammed Siraj have proved to be expensive. It will be interesting to see who plays on Sunday. 

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (C), Shikhar Dhawan,, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, Jaydev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Lokesh Rahul, Axar Patel, Deepak Hooda and Mohammed Siraj

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (C), Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Nazmul Islam, Liton Das, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hasan, Imrul Kayes, Ariful Haque, Nurul Hasan, Abu Hider Rony and Abu Jayed.