Bangladesh will be looking to continue their winning momentum and clinch their first ever Twenty20 series win against India when they take on the hosts in the second of three-match series in Rajkot today.
The match is scheduled to start at 7:30pm and will be televised live on GTV and Star Sports 1.
The fate of the game, however, will hinge on cyclonic storm Maha, which was expected to make landfall in India’s Gujarat coast on Wednesday night after hovering over the east-central Arabian sea for quite a few days.
It started raining at Rajkot under the influence of Maha late on Wednesday, though the local meteorologists forecasted it to fizzle into a depression by the time the match starts.
Bangladesh, who rarely win Twenty20 series outside home, had little thing to worry about the storm though having won the first match in Delhi comfortably by seven wickets.
‘This is really a big opportunity,’ said Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah. ‘The boys are very energetic and hopefully we will play well tomorrow [today].
‘Before the first game I said we have nothing to lose here. Tomorrow [Today] there will be another opportunity for us to win another match.
Bangladesh’s only Twenty20 series win against a Test playing country outside home came last year when they beat West Indies by 2-1 in a three-match series.
India, who failed to win a Twenty20 series at home this year, will be looking to avoid more humiliation after a subdued Delhi show.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who is set to become only second cricketer after Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik (111) to play 100 Twenty20 internationals with the game hinted some change in their strategy.
‘Of course, the combination that we played in the last game…it was based on the pitch that was on offer in Delhi. We will see the pitch again today [Wednesday] and we will think what we need to do in our bowling line-up,’ Rohit said.
‘Our batting looks good. So I don’t think there’s any change we need to make in our batting. But we’ll analyze the pitch, and based on that we’ll see what we can do as a team,’ he added.
Source: New Age.
