England and Bangladesh are set to lock horns in the seventh match of the ICC World Cup 2023 at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala on Tuesday.
After a heavy defeat against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup 2023 opener in Ahmedabad, Jos Buttler and his men would be willing to do everything to not just record a win, but also by a big margin so they can improve their net run rate (NRR).
All teams have to play nine matches, NRR can come in handy at any time and the defending champions wouldn’t want to miss out on their semi-final qualification due to a poor NRR.
The hero of the 2019 World Cup final, Ben Stokes, is likely to remain on the sidelines following the poor outfield conditions in Dharamshala as Buttler doesn’t want to take any risk with the 32-year-old, who will play as a specialist middle-order batter due to his chronic knee injury.
On the other hand, Bangladesh cruised past Afghanistan with ease in their World Cup opener at the same venue.
Familiar with the conditions, especially the outfield, it won’t be, in any way, wrong to say that the Tigers will have an upper hand over the English side.
Shakib Al Hasan-led Bangladesh will surely bank on their spin attack, as six wickets were taken by their spinners against Afghanistan.
They also have a formidable pace attack, with Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Ahmed and the experienced Mustafizur Rahim creating problems for the opponents with the new ball.
Pitch Report
The pitch at the HPCA stadium has traditionally favoured pacers as it provides bounce and movement consistently as the ball zips off the surface when it’s new. Spinners will get the much-needed bounce too. Batting won’t be easy but once a batter gets settled, they can make a big score. A total of five international matches have been played at this venue and the highest score was 330 by India against West Indies in 2014. However, the average first-innings score at this venue is 214 and out of five ODIs, the team batting second won four times.
Head-to-Head record
The head-to-head in the ICC World Cup between two teams is much more balanced as with four matches played in the mega events, both sides have two wins each.
Probable Playing XIs
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman.
England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook/ Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
