Bangladesh has cricketers who are skilled: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli, more often than not in the tournament has been questioned on the basis of the non-selection of the Tamil Nadu off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, instead favouring to go with a three-pace bowling option. The offie was picked up ahead of the pacer Umesh Yadav in the crucial do-or-die encounter against South Africa on Sunday, where the offie showed glimpses of brilliance against the left-handed Quinton de Kock.

Virat Kohli would be hoping for a similar performance from Ashwin when India face the fellow Asian side Bangladesh in the second semi-final of the Champions Trophy 2017. Kohli ahead of the encounter against Bangladesh has confirmed that the off-spinner features in the playing XI after missing out on a place in the opening three games of the tournament, where India heavily missed an off-spinner in the team.

“R Ashwin was brilliant in the last game, I don’t see any good reason to change that. Team played really well,” Kohli told media persons in Birmingham on the eve of the match.

High praises for Jadhav and Pandya

This means that the express right-arm pacer Umesh Yadav might well once again miss out on an opportunity to feature in the playing XI despite a good summer performance from the bowler. Kohli, further went on to praise the two all-rounders in the squad (Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav) for their contributions thus far in the tournament.

The two all-rounders have been involved extensively with either of the bat or the ball in the past three games that India have played.

The Indian skipper went to talk about how dangerous opponents Bangladesh could be in the 50-over game saying, “Bangladesh has cricketers who are skilled, and keen to win a lot of games at this level. They are a competitive side.”

Rohit Sharma is fit

The skipper further clarified that the right-handed opening batsman Rohit Sharma is fit to play, with rumours doing rounds that the right-hander was injured. “Rohit Sharma is fit, fine to play,” he concluded.

India will look to defend the Champions Trophy that they conquered in the year 2013 under the able tutelage of MS Dhoni, where they defeated the hosts England by a margin of five runs in the finals.