Doha: India A will need a heftier contribution from their top-order batters to support the in-form Vaibhav Suryavanshi when they take on a tricky Bangladesh A in their Rising Stars Asia Cup semifinal here on Friday.
Suryavanshi, the second highest run-maker with 201 runs in this T20 event, has done most of the heavy-lifting with the bat while making a blistering hundred and 45.
But other batters in the line-up such as skipper Jitesh Sharma, Naman Dhir, Priyansh Arya and Nehal Wadhera have not exactly set the tournament ablaze so far.
A far more rounded outing from batters is mandatory against Bangladesh as the latter is not a team to be taken lightly.
They have bowled out a capable Afghanistan A side, which included Allah Ghazanfar and Sediqullah Atal, for a paltry 78 and then stretched a strong Sri Lanka A all the way till the last over of a league match.
So, India will have to get their act together against pacer Ripon Mondol and left-arm spinner Rakibul Hasan, recent additions to Bangladesh’s senior T20 sides.
India’s bowling, however, has been in top shape in this tournament. Left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh is the leading Indian bowler with five wickets from three outings.
Gurjapneet has received reasonable backing from left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey and leg-spinner Suyash Sharma, who have taken three wickets apiece from as many matches.
Dubey has also shown his utility as a batter, making a fifty against Oman in a must-win game when he got a promotion to No. 4.
“I had started as an opener and I know that batsman is still there inside of me. I wanted to convert this chance (against Oman). We want to play the kind of game that we played against the UAE and Oman, and we are confident of winning the trophy for the team,” Dubey told bcci.tv.
But his bowling skills will be more in demand against Bangladesh A, whose batting mainly revolves around two seasoned, hard-hitting names — opener Habibur Rahman Sohan and skipper Akbar Ali.
Beyond them, the Bangladesh batting is a touch vulnerable and India A will want to exploit it to storm into the final for a possible meeting with Pakistan Shaheens on Sunday.
In the second semifinal on Friday, Shaheens will face Sri Lanka in a night match.
Teams: India A: Priyansh Arya, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Nehal Wadhera, Naman Dhir (vc), Suryansh Shedge, Jitesh Sharma (c/wk), Ramandeep Singh, Harsh Dubey, Ashutosh Sharma, Yash Thakur, Gurjapneet Singh, Vijay Kumar Vyshak, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Abhisek Porel (wk), Suyash Sharma.
Bangladesh A: Akbar Ali (c), Md. Habibur Rahman, Yasir Ali, Jishan Alam, Ariful Islam, Rakibul Hasan, Mahidul Ankon (wk), Tofael Ahmed Rayhan, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Meherob Hasan, Ripon Mondol, Abu Hidar Rony, Md. Shadin Islam, Zawad Abrar, Md. Abdul Gaffar.
Match starts at 3pm IST.
