Thu Feb 20 05:07:44 UTC 2025: ## India to Begin ICC Champions Trophy 2025 Campaign Against Bangladesh

**Dubai, UAE:** India will kick off their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign today against Bangladesh in a Group A encounter at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The match, starting at 2:30 PM local time (following a 2:00 PM toss), marks a significant clash between two cricketing giants. India, alongside Australia, are the most successful teams in the tournament’s history, each boasting two titles. Bangladesh, however, are yet to claim their first Champions Trophy.

The two teams have only met once before in the tournament’s history, a 2017 semi-final in Birmingham where India triumphed by 9 wickets, with captain Rohit Sharma scoring an unbeaten 123. India holds a commanding head-to-head record against Bangladesh in ODIs, winning 32 out of 41 matches (with 8 wins for Bangladesh and 1 no result). Their last meeting was during the 2023 World Cup, a 7-wicket victory for India.

India’s batting lineup is spearheaded by vice-captain Shubman Gill, the team’s top scorer this year with 259 runs in 3 matches, followed by Shreyas Iyer (181 runs). Harshit Rana leads the bowling attack with 6 wickets in 3 matches, closely followed by Ravindra Jadeja (6 wickets in 2 matches). For Bangladesh, Mahmudullah tops the run charts with 337 runs in 9 matches, while Taskin Ahmed leads the wicket-takers with 14 wickets in 7 matches.

Pitch reports suggest a potentially fast-paced pitch favoring spinners, with a slight advantage for teams batting second. A 55% chance of rain is forecast for Dubai on February 20th.

**Possible Playing XIs:**

**India:** Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, and Harshit Rana/Arshdeep Singh.

**Bangladesh:** Nazmul Hossain Shanto (c), Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Tanjim Hasan Sakib, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, and Mustafizur Rahman.

The match follows New Zealand’s opening day 60-run victory over Pakistan, where Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman’s slow batting proved costly for the Pakistan team.

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