Bangladesh vs India 2022

Liton Das makes a big statement ahead of the first ODI against India

The first ODI between India and Bangladesh is underway and India have been asked to bat first. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are opening the innings for the team, while the likes of M Shami and Rishabh Pant have been ruled out from the series.

Senior players such as Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli have returned after being rested for the New Zealand tour. In the lead-up to the series, Indian skipper, Rohit Sharma recalled India’s defeat against Bangladesh in 2015 and understands that his team needs to play well to beat their opposition.

“Bangladesh have been a different team in the past 7-8 years. They are a very challenging team and we did not have easy wins against them. We have to play good cricket to win. And every time we played them, it has been a very close encounter.

“Even in the T20 World Cup it was a close game. I think in 2015 we lost the series here. We know they have become a very improved team in the last few years. So we have to play our best cricket to win this. It is not going to be easy for us,” Rohit said.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, are playing without their full-time skipper Tamim Iqbal. Litton Das, who will lead the team in his absence, is optimistic about his team’s chances of winning the series.

“Our only aim is to play for win and I think it’s possible to beat them [India]. We have good bowling and batting units. Also, I have 2-3 players who have played international cricket for more than 15 years. I hope that I will get support from them. Our main focus is to win the series and more importantly we want to improve gradually and everyone is excited for the big series,” Liton told the media yesterday.

At the time of writing, India have scored 12 for no loss at the end of 3 overs.