Bangladesh face India with ranking in mind

Dhaka: Motivated Bangladesh take on touring India in the first one-day internationals of the Za' N Zee three-match ODI series schedule to be held Thursday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur, Dhaka.
Private satellite channel Gazi TV telecast the match live that kicks off at 3:00pm.
It will be a real acid test for the Tigers as expectations are very high whereas the Tigers fans are concern, since they are 'banglawash' to Pakistan in ODI series, the partisan fans believe Bangladesh are capable of repeating similar result against the star-studded India, but in reality India are far more consistence performers in both Test and ODI version.
Bangladesh, however, managed a creditable draw against India in one-off Test and boosting by the performance in the last home series against Pakistan the host expecting a positive result against India in ODI series as well.
Considering the improvements Bangladesh made in ODIs in recent times, India will not take their opponent lightly.
The Tigers have whitewashed Zimbabwe and Pakistan and appear a very settled unit in 50-over format.
Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, who celebrated his ODI debut by running through India's batting order with figures of five for 28, will be keep to produce a similar effort. He took three for 69 in that World Cup quarterfinal defeat.
Besides, they have the likes of pacer Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and opener Tamim Iqbal, who have been consistent performers for the hosts, and ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.
Wicket keeper Mushfiqur Rahim is Bangladesh's highest-ranked batsman and in the ICC rankings at 18th position. He will also look to shoulder some of the batting responsibility, provided he recovers from his finger injury. Otherwise, it will be the uncapped Litton Das, who will be asked to keep wickets.
The 25-year-old pacer Rubel Hossain, who was the star performer in the team's famous World Cup win over England with a two-wicket burst, is also in the fray.
On the other hand, it will be a fresh beginning for a full-strength India in limited overs cricket after the World Cup semifinal exit.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is back at the side along with six other ODI specialists to take on a side that made the cricket world sit up and take notice by reaching the 2015 World Cup quarterfinals, where they were knocked out by an in-form Indian side.
As far as the Indian team is concerned, even a 3-0 result against the hosts will not be enough for the second-placed side to claim the number one spot in the ICC rankings, while a favourable outcome for the home team will boost its qualifying chances for the 2017 Champions Trophy.
Besides an opportunity to erase the memories of the World quarterfinal debacle Down Under, the prospect of earning a Champions Trophy berth will be motivation enough for the Tigers to roar.
Squads: Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Rony Talukdar, Mustafizur Rahman and Litton Das.
India: MS Dhoni (captain), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Stuart Binny and Dhawal Kulkarni.