Having outclassed Pakistan on Sunday, the Indian team will face Bangladesh in their next Asia Cup Super 4 game on Wednesday, a contest which will see quality spinners in action from both the sides.
Going by statistics, the match could be another lopsided one as Bangladesh have won only once in 17 head-to-head encounters between the two teams in the T20 format. On paper, Bangladesh are clearly no match for India. T20Is are not even Bangladesh's strength.
So, it could be another thumping win for Suryakumar Yadav's men, but the unpredictable nature of the format and the quality spin attack of Bangladesh could well turn the match the other way. However, it is the gulf in the standard of batsmen across two sides which is ultimately going to make the difference.
Also read: Indo-Pak games far from rivalry: Suryakumar
In the Indian team, opener Abhishek Sharma is in the form of his life, scoring runs at a strike rate of nearly 210, while his partner Shubman Gill provides much-needed stability to the batting line-up. In comparison, Bangladesh's two best T20 batters, skipper Litton Das (129 plus) and Towhid Hridoy (SR 124 plus), have mediocre performances to show for their efforts.
Bangladesh's best chance is to make India bat first and expect leg-break bowler Rishad Hossain and off-spinner Mahedi Hasan to curtail the run flow in the middle overs to make a game out of it. Its batting unit doesn't have the power game to dominate Indian bowlers, but they can create a problem by restricting India in the 150-160 range, which will be gettable.
For India, there is one minor issue which the team's analytics department must have taken note of, and that is Tilak Varma's discomfort against spin this year. 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. He has been far more comfortable against quicker bowlers, scoring freely with lofted shots. With Tilak and Sanju both expected to bat at No. 4 and 5, they will have some job to do if wickets fall in a heap.
Bangladesh's five-pronged bowling, which has Mustafizur, Taskin Ahmed and Tanzim Hasan Sakib as the three front-line pacers, is decent. Mustafizur, with years of IPL experience and variations in slow bowling, can certainly test Indian batsmen.
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