FATULLAH, Bangladesh: India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bowl first against hosts Bangladesh in their Asia Cup match on Wednesday.
HunzaNews February 26th, 2014.
Kohli is leading the team for the first time in a multi-nation tournament due to an injury to regular India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
India has a relatively inexperienced batting lineup, with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina also out of the squad, making it the first time in almost a decade that none of Dhoni, Yuvraj or Raina are playing.
The 25-year-old Kohli has led India in eight one-day internationals so far and won seven of them, including a 5-0 whitewash of Zimbabwe in a bilateral series.
Bangladesh must cope without experienced allrounder Shakib Al-Hasan, who was handed a three-game ban by the national cricket board for an inappropriate gesture during a recent one-dayer against Sri Lanka.
The left-hander missed the last match of that series and will also not be available for Bangladesh´s next game against Afghanistan on Saturday.
India had lost to Bangladesh in the previous Asia Cup in 2012 and failed to reach the final.
Lineups:
Bangladesh: Shamsur Rahman, Anamul Haque, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Nasir Hossain, Naeem Islam, Ziaur Rahman, Sohag Gazi, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain.
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (captain), Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Varun Aaron.
(AP)
