CT 2017, India vs Bangladesh Semi-final 2: 5 players to watch out for

It’s time for the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy and only a few would have predicted defending champions India will be facing Bangladesh. They have followed differential paths thus far with the Indian team bagging two big wins whereas Bangladesh managed one encouraging win over New Zealand, shared points with Australia in a wash out and received a gift from England who beat the Aussies to seal a semis spot for the Tigers.

Though the match winners from both sides have stood out in the league matches, a few of them haven’t. But such games is the occasion for players to rise and quite a few of them will carry a lot of weights on their shoulders in this match. Let us look at the five players from either side who won’t be under the spotlight but certainly have the potential to make a major impact.

1. Sabbir Rahman

Rahman is one for the future in the Bangladesh side and is truly a class batsman who looks set to join the league of extraordinary players in the team by the names of Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, and Mahmudullah. He has been a victim of chopping and changes in the batting line-up as he has appeared to be the most comfortable up the order. With Imrul Kayes in the side, Rahman was forced to go down the order to accommodate the other batsman.

However, in this tournament, an impactful inning from Rahman is due and he would be raring to go against their new foes in International cricket. He is also unfortunately remembered for an incident which will be placed on top when we define MS Dhoni‘s brilliance as a keeper. In the match in the World T20 2016, Rahman was stumped by the master when his foot was momentarily off the ground. Let’s hope he keeps his feet on the ground this time against India.

2. Rubel Hussain

Whenever the name Rubel Hussain is spelt, people immediately relate it to Virat Kohli as the two apparently have no love lost between them. It all started at the 2011 World Cup when Virat was beginning to bloom as a world-class batsman. Rubel bowled a full delivery and stared at Kohli for nothing. The Indian batter abused him back for his stare. Kohli then scored a century in the match.

In the 2015 World Cup, Rubel was happy to pick the wicket of Kohli and gave him a send-off. But the gesture he made was as good as gold when Rubel was dismissed later that night. In the match tomorrow, they are set to clash against each other again. Let us see how things unfold this time, between Kohli and Rubel.

3. Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin missed out on a large chunk of the tournament as India went ahead with an extra seamer in the first two matches of the tournament.

The off-spinner would be eager to create an impact in the tournament as he is the world no.2 bowler in Test. His presence in the side clearly made a difference as in the last match against South Africa when Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock were just beginning to flex their muscles, Ashwin got the wicket of Amla and tickled the collapse.

4. Soumya Sarkar

Soumya Sarkar is one of the players in the Bangladesh squad who hasn’t been able to click and would be in desperate need of runs to show for as he has been threatening to go big with the kind of starts he has been getting.

In World T20, Sarkar took a blinder of a catch when Hardik Pandya smashed one towards deep square leg. Sarkar plucked a catch out of nowhere, amazing one and all. He also played a good hand in their run chase as they fell heartbreakingly close to the victory.

5. Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya in the tournament has looked brilliant when things started to fall in place for him. His cameo against Pakistan was sensational and is still fresh on everyone’s mind.

In this match again, he would be raring to go and deliver at the big stage to create a name for himself globally. The only issue is with his bowling which is like the weather of London. Pandya would want to tighten things up and bowl fuller if there is anything on offer and pull the length back if not.