Former Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar feels that the Indian team management will not make any changes in their playing 11 going into their clash against Bangladesh on Friday. After a thrilling 41-run victory over Sri Lanka, the squad led by Rohit Sharma advanced to the continental final, where they will face the host nation – Sri Lanka on Sunday.
Rohit Sharma along with Shubman Gill, contributed to an 80-run stand with KL Rahul putting up a decent partnership in the middle overs helping the Indian team post a respectable total of 213 runs in dry conditions. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj played crucial roles in this victory with a brilliant new ball spell in the powerplay before Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja wrapped up things for the team.
Speaking on Star Sports, Sanjay Bangar feels that the Indian team management will field the same playing 11 going into the contest against Bangladesh, as there is no vacancy for a place in the team. He also believes that the Indian bowlers will have the opportunity to showcase their value once more because they did not complete their allotted 10 overs in the previous game.
“Rohit Sharma will definitely play. Shubman Gill is a youngster, so he will play. Virat Kohli likes this ground a lot, so you can’t ask Virat Kohli to sit out on this ground. The players at No. 4 and No. 5 are trying to cement their places and will want to play.”
“The bowlers didn’t need to do too much work. Jasprit Bumrah didn’t have to bowl his entire quota of 10 overs in both matches. Similarly, Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Siraj also didn’t have to do that,” Sanjay Bangar said.
Indian bowlers were hot to handle for the batters, as the Men in Blue displayed high-quality fast bowling with the new ball by picking up wickets in the powerplay overs in both the Pakistan and Sri Lanka games, while Indian spinners were quite lethal in the middle overs picking up the crucial wickets to help their side win the game comfortably against Asian heavyweights.
Rahul Dravid And Rohit Sharma Will Not Want The Players’ Rhythm To Break – Sanjay Bangar
Sanjay Bangar feels that Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid would not want to break the rhythm of the Indian players going into the grand final against Sri Lanka, as they have a two-day break between the games, and reckons that they have very little chance to see a different player in the game against Bangladesh on Friday.
“There is always a slight question mark on the fast bowlers in terms of workload management but considering the sort of combination that has been created, with three spinners and three fast bowlers, and that the batters are in rhythm, there is very little chance for us to see any different player.”
“It will be better if they play with the same players. Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma will not want the players’ rhythm to break. There was a two-day break as well. They played three days consecutively but after that, they would have got a good break of two days,” Sanjay Bangar added.
Indian team management will have a consideration to whether to offer as much game time to its first-choice team as feasible or give some game time to the fringe players ahead of the ODI World Cup in India. It is expected that Shreyas Iyer and Mohammad Shami will walk into the playing 11 for the game against Bangladesh in Colombo.
