India Vs Bangladesh: Another Charged Battle With 'Spin Punch'

Dubai – Having overpowered Pakistan in an intense tussle, a battle-hardened Indian team will square off in another potentially volatile Asia Cup Super 4 game against Bangladesh on Wednesday when it is expected to encounter some quality spinners.

In terms of statistics, this is supposed to be another lopsided one as Bangladesh have won only once in 17 head-to-head encounters between the two teams in the T20 format.

But since the 2015 ODI World Cup and a benefit of doubt life to Rohit Sharma at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, it has gotten bitter between the two teams, thanks to the partisan young fans, many of whom perceive India as an adversary.

India's diplomatic relations with Bangladesh after the toppling of the Sheikh Hasina Government have been rocky.

The BCCI even postponed a white-ball series, which was scheduled in August this year, to 2026 provided there is a democratically elected government in place.

On paper, Bangladesh are no match for India. T20Is aren't even Bangladesh's strength and if all goes well, it could be another thumping win for Suryakumar Yadav's men.

But the fickle nature of the format and the slightly better spin attack of Bangladesh means they could spring a surprise.

However, it is the gulf in standard of batters across two sides that is ultimately going to be the difference.

In the Indian team, one opener Abhishek Sharma is in the form of his life, scoring runs at a strike rate of nearly 210, while his partner in crime Shubman Gill has propped up his to nearly 158 rate after the last Pakistan game.

In comparison, Bangladesh's two best T20 batters - skipper Litton Das (129 plus) and Towhid Hridoy (SR 124 plus) have mediocre numbers to show for their efforts.

Bangladesh's best chance is to make India bat first and expect that Mustafizur Rahman, at the death, and the two spinners - leg-break bowler Rishad Hossain and off-spinner Mahedi Hasan - choke the run-flow in the middle overs to make a game out of it.

Bangladesh's batting unit collectively doesn't have the power game to dominate Indian bowlers but where they can create a bit of problem is by restricting India in the 150-160 range which will be chaseable for them.

For India, there is one minor issue which the team's analytics department must have taken note of and that is Tilak Varma's struggles against spin this year.

Noted analytics site 'CricMetric' has provided a lowdown of Tilak's strike-rate against spin in T20Is across 2024 and 2025.

In 2024, Tilak played 61 deliveries against slow bowlers in five games and scored 116 runs at a strike-rate of 190 plus. His dot ball percentage against spinners was 21.3.

But in 2025, Tilak has scored only 92 runs off 80 balls in seven innings at a strike-rate of 115 and a dot ball percentage of 38.

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