Having qualified for the Asia Cup 2023 final, Team India are likely to make changes to their playing XI in the last Super-4 clash against Bangladesh, scheduled for September 15 in Colombo.
There are reports claiming that the Men in Blue will make four or five changes in their XI that last featured against Sri Lanka.
However, former India cricketer Sanjay Bangar believes India won’t alter their batting order in the dead-rubber.
“Rohit Sharma will definitely play. Shubman Gill is a youngster, so he will play. Virat Kohli likes this ground a lot, so you can’t ask Virat Kohli to sit out on this ground. The players at No. 4 and No. 5 are trying to cement their places and will want to play," Bangar said on Star Sports.
According to reports, fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are likely to be rested alongside all-rounder Hardik Pandya as the team management wants to give opportunities to Mohammad Shami, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur.
Bangar though argued that Bumrah, Siraj and Pandya have not bowled their full quota of overs and it won’t be the case of workload management for them.
“The bowlers didn’t need to do too much work. Jasprit Bumrah didn’t have to bowl his entire quota of 10 overs in both matches. Similarly, Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Siraj also didn’t have to do that."
“There is always a slight question mark on the fast bowlers in terms of workload management but considering the sort of combination that has been created, with three spinners and three fast bowlers, and that the batters are in rhythm, there is very little chance for us to see any different player," he remarked.
The former batting coach further stated that India got a two-day break and they wouldn’t want to break the rhythm of players.
“It will be better if they play with the same players. Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma will not want the players’ rhythm to break. There was a two-day break as well. They played three days consecutively but after that they would have got a good break of two days," said Bangar.
India are having a great time in the ongoing Asia Cup. In the group-stage, they registered a crushing 10-wicket victory over Nepal while their marquee encounter against Pakistan was abandoned due to rain.
In the first game of the Super-4 round, India thrashed the arch-rivals by 228 runs and then defeated Sri Lanka by 41 runs to secure a place in the final, where they will take on the hosts in Colombo on September 17.
