Key Points
India enters tournament as strong favorites with strategic team changes
Bangladesh opts to bat first in crucial Group A match
Dubai International Stadium hosts high-stakes cricket encounter
Rohit Sharma emphasizes tournament's importance for team's performance
India enters as one of the favourites to win the eight-team competition, though Bangladesh can spring a surprise. After winning the toss, Shanto said he is very happy with the preparation and said their bowling combination is three seamers and two spinners.
"Looks a good wicket so we want to put runs on the board. We have play good cricket today and the boys are confident," he said.
India skipper Rohit Sharma said he would have fielded first. As for team changes, he says Jadeja and Shami come back in place of Washington Sundar and Arshdeep Singh.
"We have played a few years back here so we felt ball comes on better under lights. All looking good. Everyone is fit and fine to go. Let's hope we start well. There is no looking back, every game becomes very important in this tournament," he said.
Thursday's match will be played on a fresh pitch, with no dew sighted this year as the game progressed into evening. The straight boundary down the ground is at 82 m straight, while square boundaries are 74 m and 62 m, respectively.
Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, and Kuldeep Yadav
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Taskin Ahmed, and Mustafizur Rahman
