Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat first in their Champions Trophy opener against India at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

Bangladesh set a bold target to lift the Champions Trophy this time despite their ODI performance took a huge nosedive since the 2023 World Cup in India.

Considered an ODI giant, Bangladesh won just four in 12 matches they played after the 2023 World Cup.

Even the experts didn’t rate Bangladesh highly ahead of the Champions Trophy. Legends like Ricky Ponting, AB de Villiers were straightforward in their assessment, saying Bangladesh don’t have the quality to stun the bigger opponents in the cut-throat competition, where all matches are considered as knock out game.

Bangladesh, pitted in Group A, also have to face off teams like New Zealand and hosts Pakistan.

Bangladesh (Playing XI): Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav