Bangladesh will take on India in the second match of the ICC Champions Trophy. This match will be played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Champions Trophy 2025 will be held from 19 February to 9 March 2025 and will be contested by the top eight ranked men’s national teams. Group A includes Pakistan, India, New Zealand. At the same time, Group B includes Australia, England, Afghanistan, and South Africa.
The Champions Trophy has already begun and the next game is going to be played between India and Bangladesh on February 20 at the Dubai International Stadium. This is set to be a battle between the two-time Champions Trophy winners and the unpredictable underdogs.
India start their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign against Bangladesh on Thursday in Dubai in an explosive Group A encounter. With just two teams from each group making it to the semis, each group stage game is critical. The Men in Blue will be hoping to carry their momentum from the ODI series against England at home.
IND vs BAN : Previous Performances
India were the finalists of WC 2023 and are coming into this tournament on the back of a 3-0 whitewash to England back home. They have a settled squad and despite the absence of Bumrah they look very strong to clinch the title. On the other hand, Bangladesh have struggled in this format and will be without the services of Shakib Al Hasan. They will be looking to punch above their weight and look to surprise a few teams. This promises to be an exciting match between these two sides.
Since losing the World Cup final to Australia, India have only played nine ODIs across three series. They beat South Africa 2-1 in South Africa with a second-string team in December 2023, then suffered a 2-0 setback on turning pitches Sri Lanka with a near-full-strength side in August 2024, before pulling off a reassuringly dominant 3-0 win over England in the weeks leading up to the Champions Trophy.
India have won the Champions Trophy once outright, in 2013, and shared it with Sri Lanka in 2002, when the final was rained off on successive days. They’ve also been losing finalists twice, to New Zealand in 2000 and Pakistan in 2017.
While the Indian team won their last ODI series, The Bangladesh side has not had a great time in the 50-over format where they lost their last two series. The Bangladesh team lost the ODI series to Afghanistan and the West Indies and their position in the ICC ODI rankings does not look promising. The Tigers will want to get some wins to prove themselves as a top international side.
India finished as runners-up in the last edition of the Champions Trophy, whereas Bangladesh were beaten semifinalists in the same. As the Tigers take on the mighty Indian side, they will be hoping to gain confidence from their World Cup 2007 memories.
IND vs BAN : Head to Head
Traditionally, India has maintained dominance over Bangladesh in One Day Internationals (ODIs). Out of 41 encounters, India has emerged victorious 32 times, while Bangladesh has secured 8 wins, with one match ending without a result.
| Matches Played | 41 |
| Won by India | 32 |
| Won by Bangladesh | 8 |
| Tied | 0 |
| No Result | 01 |
| First-ever Fixture | October 27, 1988 |
| Most-recent Fixture | October 19, 2023 |
IND vs BAN : Pitch Report
The pitch at Dubai International Cricket Stadium is known for conditions that could pose a challenge for both batters and bowlers. Media reports from Dubai state that fresh pitches will be in use for this encounter. This will mean the 22-yard strip could offer pace early on, while also assisting spinners in the middle phases.
The ILT20 has witnessed that the teams that have gone on to win the matches in Dubai have been chasing. The wicket does get slower but with the dew factor coming in it is better for the teams to bowl first after winning the toss.
Weather conditions for Dubai on the day India play their Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh are expected to be warm and dry with some early cloud cover. As the game unfolds, dew is expected to play a role. This means that the team bowing second will be at a disadvantage.
IND vs BAN : Big Picture : Doubt over India’s world-beaters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as they enter Champions Trophy 2025
This is the same team, more or less, that looked like one of the all-time great ODI sides while all but winning the 2023 World Cup. The more-or-less clause, however, could be significant to their push to make up for losing that fateful final by winning this Champions Trophy.
First up, Jasprit Bumrah will not be there. As good as the rest of this team is, it’s almost like Argentina without Diego Maradona in 1986 or Lionel Messi in 2022. Mohammed Shami will be there but he’s yet to show, in the handful of international games he’s played since his return from injury, the pace and incisiveness that made him near-unplayable in that World Cup.
This means India may have to try and win games with their spinners, which, fortunately for them, is likelier to work as a strategy in Dubai, the venue for all their matches, than at any ground in Pakistan. They may look to play three spinners whenever possible, which will come with the added benefit of greater batting depth.
The batting, too, carries the more-or-less clause. India have a line-up full of frighteningly good players, but there’s a little more uncertainty around some of them than there was a year-and-a-half ago – quite likely because there have been so few ODIs in the lead-up to this tournament.
The two biggest names have both endured a difficult time of late, but India will be relieved that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have both shown, over the course of the recently concluded three-match series against England, that they might still be at a similar level to their ODI selves of 2023.
India have been drawn in Group A of the Champions Trophy. Either side of the obligatory ICC-tournament-group-stage meeting with Pakistan on February 23, they will face Bangladesh on February 20 and New Zealand on March 2. Dubai will host all their group matches – and their semi-final and the final, should they get that far.
IND vs BAN : Vital Stats that matters
- Since the start of 2023, India have a win/loss ratio of 3.333 in ODIs All the other seven Champions Trophy teams have managed ratios below 2.
- In this period, five India batters – Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer – have scored over 1000 ODI runs , with all four managing either 50-plus averages, 100-plus strike rates, or both.
- Virat Kohli is just 37 runs away from making history. He will become the fastest to score 14000 ODI runs. He has currently scored 13963 runs in 285 innings.
- Indian captain Rohit Sharma is also very near to a big record. He needs 22 more runs to complete 11000 ODI runs. He will become the second-fastest batter to do so, going past Sachin Tendulkar (276 innings).
- KL Rahul is just 97 runs away from completing 3000 ODI runs for India. He has now scored 2903 runs in 80 ODIs.
- Mohammed Shami has 197 wickets in 103 games. He needs three more wickets to complete 200 ODI runs.
- All-rounder Hardik Pandya is known for his power hitting and big sixes. But with the ball, he has won many games. Hardik is just 2 wickets away from completing 200 international wickets for India.
- Spin all-rounder Washington Sundar is also near a landmark. He needs only three wickets to complete 100 international wickets for India.
- Kuldeep Yadav needs one more wicket to complete 300 wickets for India in international cricket.
- A century from Virat Kohli will set the tone. If Virat makes 103 runs against Bangladesh, he will surpass Ricky Ponting (27483) and become the third-highest run scorer in international cricket.
IND vs BAN : Players to watch out for
The man who makes India’s combination work, and for that reason one of the most important players in the entire tournament, is Hardik Pandya. He bats at No. 6, and when fully fit is a good enough bowler to be a proper third seamer. He has endured a difficult history with injuries, however, and his early exit from the 2023 World Cup cost India a lot of flexibility. If Hardik is fit, India can play either three frontline quicks or – as seems likely in this tournament – three spinners.
Of their spin options, Axar Patel is turning into a key player. The pitches in Dubai, which tend to be of the skiddy, low-bounce variety, could be conducive to his left-arm spin. Perhaps even more crucial is his skill with the bat, particularly against spin, which has turned him into a reliable left-hand floater whom India often promote to break up their predominantly right-handed top order.
IND vs BAN : Team News
India :
India’s whitewash of England in the recent three-match series was a much-needed confidence booster ahead of this event. It also helped the team find answers to some nagging questions.
There were concerns surrounding the form of key batters, and fortunately, most of them got some runs under their belt. Shubman Gill was the player of the series, while skipper Rohit Sharma cracked a fine century. Virat Kohli, too, managed a half-century in the third ODI. Shreyas Iyer is in a rich vein of form and will anchor the middle-order alongside K.L. Rahul, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. Axar’s ability to take on the spinners during the middle phase of the innings allows the management to use him as a floater.
However, the big concern continues to be the pace bowling attack, which suffered a major setback when Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the competition with a back injury. Mohammed Shami has slowly eased into a rhythm since his comeback but is yet to hit the peak he showed in the ‘23 World Cup.
It will also be interesting to see if Harshit Rana, who played all three games against England, gets to start ahead of Arshdeep Singh. The absence of Bumrah means India will have to bank on its spinners, and for that, Pandya will have a huge role to play. If the all-rounder stays fit through the tournament and can do the third seamer’s job effectively, the two-time champion can play three spinners without affecting the batting depth
Another potential selection quandary will be whether to bank on Kuldeep Yadav’s experience or go for Varun Chakravarthy’s mystery spin. The pitch in Dubai is expected to aid the tweakers, and the pleasant day-time temperatures mean dew might not have a huge role to play.
India Predicted XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh.
Bangladesh :
Meanwhile, Bangladesh hasn’t played an ODI this year and lost 0-3 to West Indies in its previous series. Without star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, the Tigers will need senior pros like Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah to shoulder the batting load. On the bowling front, the outfit has a potent pace attack with the fiery Nahid Rana and Tanzim Hasan alongside veterans Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman. Najmul Hossain Shanto will depend on his quicks to rattle a strong Indian batting line-up.
Bangladesh Predicted XI: Nazmul Hossain Shanto (c), Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali Anik, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Nahid Rana
IND vs BAN Fantasy XI : Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim
IND vs BAN : Probable best players of the Match
Probable best batter: Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill has been one of the best batters for India in the ODI format so far and was the player of the series in the series against England. He will look to continue his great form in the Champions Trophy as well and play a huge role in the tournament.
Probable best bowler: Mustafizur Rahman
The conditions in Dubai will suit Mustafizur Rahman in the game not only because he has been a champion bowler for the team but also because his cutters and variations will be effective in these conditions. He also has a great record against the Men in Blue.
IND vs BAN : Match Prediction
The Tigers face a big challenge without Shakib Al Hasan but remain competitive. Dubai’s conditions favour batters and spinners, suiting both teams. While Bangladesh has the potential to pull off an upset, India’s experience and recent form make them favourites to win this contest.
Scenario 1
- India win the toss and opt to bowl first.
- Powerplay: 50-70
- BAN: 250-270
- India win the match.
Scenario 2
- Bangladesh win the toss and opt to bowl first.
- Powerplay: 70-90
- IND: 290-310
- India win the match.