IND vs BAN: Arshdeep Singh to start over Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav to pip Varun Chakravarthy

The Men in Blue are coming into the tournament after whitewashing a strong England side 3-0 with Rohit and Virat Kohli finding some semblance of form after their disappointing outing against Australia and New Zealand in the last two Test series. India are coming into the tournament with a spin-heavy attack and are likely to field 3 spinners and 2 pacers in the opening match.

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Harshit Rana to sit out

Even though Harshit Rana impressed in his debut ODI series against England, the Kolkata Knight Riders pacer is expected to give way to Mohammad Shami and Arshdeep Singh in the lineup. With Shami’s variations expected to be aided by the Dubai pitch, India will most likely go with the Bengal pacer throughout the whole tournament. With Arshdeep’s propensity to take early wickets and death overs bowling skill, he is likely to get the nod ahead of Rana.

Kuldeep Yadav set to get the nod over Varun Chakravarthy

Kuldeep and Varun are the two specialist spinners in the Indian setup with the other three spin options being allrounders in Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar. With the Men in Blue likely to start with three spinners, Axar and Jadeja are expected to make it to the team due to their batting skills. This leads to a toss up between Kuldeep and Varun with the former likely to get the nod because of his experience in ODIs and the latter suffering a little niggle.

Predicted XI:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh.

Bangladesh: 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