India begin title defence against dangerous floaters
India v Bangladesh is most likely to count for nothing - unless Ireland spring up a surprise
Match facts
Saturday June 6Start time 1800 local (1700 GMT)
Big Picture
The mis-hit scoop from Misbah-ul-Haq continues to serve India even in the second World Twenty20. Being the top seeds by virtue of winning the inaugural edition, India get to be in the group that has two relatively weak teams, Bangladesh and Ireland. Their place in the Super Eights should be a mere formality.Form guide
(last five matches, most recent first)Bangladesh LLLLL
They have shown flashes of brilliance with the bat in the warm-up games (including a score of 206 against Netherlands), but against tougher opponents those flashes have been too short-lived even by Twenty20 standards. Their bowling is the main area of concern, and was at its worst when Australia plundered 219 against them.
A modest run of recent results for the world champions owes to their poor record against New Zealand. They are yet to beat New Zealand in Twenty20s, and the last two defeats came in the Southern Hemisphere. The trend continued when they lost to New Zealand even in their first warm-up game, but they will take heart from the thrashing they handed Pakistan.
Watch out for...
In the warm-ups Rohit Sharma batted as if he has been batting in England for a long time now. That too, filling in for Virender Sehwag as an opener. His 53-ball 80 against Pakistan was a perfect opener's innings in a Twenty20 chase.Team news
If the weather helps seamers - and rain is forecast - Bangladesh could go for an extra seamer, given the quality of their part-time spinners. While Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain are almost certain, the choice is between Shahadat Hossain and Syed Rasel.Pitch and conditions
Trent Bridge has been a high-scoring venue in the warm-ups. The weather, though, was cloudy today with temperatures in the teens. Rain is forecast for tomorrow.Stats and Trivia
- This will be the first Twenty20 meeting between India and Bangladesh. They qualified in separate Super Eights groups in 2007.
Quotes
Jamie Siddons, Bangladesh coach
India coach Gary Kirsten is unhappy about the rumours of an alleged rift between Sehwag and Dhoni
Sidharth Monga is a staff writer at Cricinfo