Nidahas Trophy: Bangladesh skipper Mahmadullah wins toss, elects to bowl against India

Bangladesh skipper Mahmadullah won the toss and elected to bowl against India in a Nidahas Twenty20 tri-series match at the R.Premadasa Stadium, here today.

India have brought in Mohammed Siraj in place of Jaydev Unadkat for their last league match while Bangladesh have replaced Taskin Ahmed with Abu Hider.

India, who already have won two matches, need one more victory to qualify for the title-clash.

So far, in all four matches, the chasing team has emerged victorious.

India would keep an eye on the skies. Hopefully, rains will stay away, though at this time of the year it is never far off in Sri Lanka. Team batting second would be at an advantage if Duckworth-Lewis Rain Rule comes into play.

Men in blue are currently leading the tournament with four points, as they won two out of three matches till now.

Though, India had lost the first match against Sri Lanka but fought their way out in the second match when the young guns of the team came out as champions.

Rohit Sharma, who is leading the team in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli, has not performed at-par.

A big shout out to the bowlers, especially Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar, both of them have outbowled the opponents with their variety of seam and pace.

The newcomers are playing with passion, dedication and are stepping up for the team as the pillars in odd situations.

In a recent interview newcomer Shardul said, "When other senior bowlers are missing from the team, it's me who (has) to step up."

On the other hand, Bangladesh has shrugged its rust off in this series when they stunned Sri Lanka and marked a record run chase of 215.

Mushfiqur Rahim slammed an unbeaten 72 off 35 balls that inspired Bangladesh to such a massive victory.

Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

Bangladesh: Mahmudullah (C), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Abu Hider Rony, Mustafizur Rahman and Nazmul Islam. 

(With inputs from PTI)