Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is convinced that their team has quality pacers and all-rounders in the squad ready to outfox an in-form India in their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign opener on February 20.
In the pre-match press conference, Shanto said that they have a good chance of beating India. He hopes that young pacer Nahid Rana plays and trouble the opposition batters.
"All departments we have to play well to have any chance against India. We have good memories against India. If we execute our plan we have a good chance," Shanto said during the pre-match press conference.
"We have got some good all rounders. We are depending on them. All teams are capable of winning. We fancy our chances. We are not thinking too much, we have some good fast bowlers.
"We are very happy to have fast bowler like (Nahid) Rana. If he plays, then he will do the job. We have good balance of spin and fast bowlers."
Rana has played three ODIs so far and claimed four wickets. However, he has impressed in red-ball cricket taking 20 wickets from six appearances.
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India suffered a big loss before the tournament with Jasprit Bumrah getting ruled out due to lower back injury. However, Shanto said that Bangladesh are not focused on one individual but the team. He also expects his batters to come good and predicts it won't be a high-scoring affair.
"In BPL (Bangladesh Premier League) couple of batters batted very well. We need to adjust. It's not very high scoring compared to Pakistan," he said.
"We have a lot of supporters. We expect crowd to come and support us."
India vs Bangladesh head-to-head in Dubai
India and Bangladesh played two ODIs at the venue during Asia Cup 2018. In the first game, India beat Bangladesh comprehensively by seven wickets chasing a target of 174. In the Asia Cup 2018 final, India won off the last ball of the match. The Rohit Sharma-led side chased down 223 with three wickets in hand.