Sunday 6 October 05:00
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India v Bangladesh First T20 team news
India are world champions in name only with Rohit Sharama, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Jadeja, Axar Patel and Risabh Pant not involved. Suryakumar Yadav leads a team into a new era.
They have gone from a squad which has often picked a surfeit of openers to one with, well, one. Abhishek Sharma is the only specialist and he is likely to be paired with Sanju Samson. A middle-order of Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Riyan Parag is likely to be fluid.
With the ball, Arshdeep Singh is attack leader joined by the exciting pacer Mayank Yadav who proved a game changer in IPL.
Possible India XI: Abhishek, Samson, Yadav, Rinku, Hardik, Dube, Parag, Sundar, Bishnoi, Arshdeep, Mayank
Bangladesh are without Shakib-al-Hasan but that is rarely a bad thing considering the all-rounder can be a disruptive influence. Skip Najmul Shanto has his work cut out regardless with a squad which will struggle to bridge the gap.
Twin all-rounders Mehidy Hasan Miraz and mahedi Hasan are key in Shakib's absence. Both will bowl offbreaks but Mehidy is pencilled in as a possible opener having done so domestically and internationally. If Bangladesh don't want to play both, Mahmudullah could come in.
Possible Bangladesh XI: Tanzid, Das, Shanto, Hridoy, Jaker, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad, Tanzim, Taskin, Mustafizur
India v Bangladesh First T20 pitch report
Rather unhelpfully Gwalior has not hosted a T20. All we have to go on in terms of ground form is some distant ODI action. India posted 401 against South Africa 14 years ago. It has a reputation, locally, for runs unsurprisingly. Four times in eight matches batting first against Bangladesh India have busted 175. But the par line will be set higher than that. The 196 they managed against them in North Sound in June will be more like it.
There's not much fun to be had on the match odds market. Bangladesh are no better than 6.05/1 on the exchange. Given they've won once in 14 attempts it is a stiff task to argue that it's a wrong price.
One would expect India to have little truck with a Bangladesh outfit who struggle in all formats but this might be comfortably their worst.
The first port of call for T20s involving India is always the same: what's is Sky Yadav's price for top bat and is it value? Sportsbook go 13/53.60, which is his shortest yet. The bad news is that the price is bang on. Sky wins 27.7% of the time in the last 12 months. Implied probability on price is 27.8%. Value elsewhere may lie in Hardik Pandya who notched a 50 in the T20 World Cup head-to-head. He is 11/112.00. As a senior player he really should throw his weight around at demand to bat at least No 5.
For Bangladesh, Shanto wins at 25% so 4/15.00 is a bet. If Mehidy does open then the 12/113.00 will look very big. With bat and ball, we are keen on Rishad Hossain to continue to develop into an all-rounder of class. The 35/136.00 that he top scores and the 4/15.00 he takes most wickets for Bangladesh are value prices.
The safest play may be to go overs on his performance, however, at 20.5 for 5/61.84. With 20 points for a wicket, 10 for a catch and 1 for a run his career average of 33 makes him more than solid.
Back Hardik Pandya top India bat
Back Rishad Hossain over 20.5 performance points
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