Team India kick off their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign against neighbours Bangladesh. Rohit Sharma and Co will be looking to go further than they did in the last edition, where they finished runners-up to Pakistan in 2017.
Ahead of the second game of the 2025 Champions Trophy, here are our match preview and predictions.
ICC Champions Trophy 2025 | Match 2: Bangladesh vs India | 14:30 IST, February 20
With political tensions seeing them play all their games in Dubai instead of travelling to Pakistan, India come into the Champions Trophy with a spin-heavy squad. Captain Rohit Sharma will be leading from the front, with his recent “all guns blazing” approach at the start of the innings set to take centre stage again. He will have alongside him Shubman Gill, with the two having proved to be a dangerous ODI opening pair of late. India’s biggest concern, though, comes at No. 3, with Virat Kohli struggling horribly for form. That said, the Men In Blue have a solid middle order, with Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul two of the best white-ball players in that position at the moment.
In the bowling department, India have Hardik Pandya who can play as the second seamer should the need arise, with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel being the two spin all-rounders. With five spinners in the squad, Sharma has the chance to go to Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, and Washington Sundar. While their talisman Jasprit Bumrah might be missing, the team will be looking to Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshit Rana to fill in his shoes.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, come into this match holding the upper hand based on their recent ODI encounters with India. Najmul Hossain Shanto holds the reins of the team with a host of experienced stars at his disposal, such as Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, and Mustafizur Rahman. While the batting unit will have the likes of Soumya Sarkar, Shanto, Mahmudullah, Rahim and Jaker Ali will be the mainstays. Sarkar and Mehidy Hasan Miraz will be key all-rounders, while Rahman will lead the pace attack that also boasts Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Sakib and the exciting youngster Nahid Rana.
The Dubai strip is known to be a slow surface, although there has been assistance for the batters recently, as seen in the recent edition of the International League T20. The slow surface should play right into India’s hands, who have prepared hard with five spinners.
Expect India to start their campaign with a win in what shouldn’t be a very high-scoring encounter. Their recent struggles against spin will be a key factor once again, though the sheer firepower in the camp should get them over the line.
Fantasy XI: Shubman Gill, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Virat Kohli, Mahmudullah, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman
Venue: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Winners Prediction: India
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