What

The first ODI of the 2011 ICC World Cup is being played between joint hosts India and Bangladesh. The match is a Day/Night affair.

When

February 19, 2011. The game begins at 2 pm, IST.

Where

Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Bangladesh. The wicket at the Shere Bangla National stadium is generally on the slower side, although Pakistan did manage an imposing total of 285/9 in their warm-up game here against Bangladesh on Tuesday.

The Teams

India begin their World Cup campaign riding on some impressive performances against Australia and New Zealand in their warm-up outings. Against Australia, they managed to defend a small total of 214 runs while they trounced the Kiwis by a resounding 117-run margin after having posted a mammoth total of 360/5 in 50 overs. And with Zaheer Khan scheduled to play in the opening game, the bowling attack too looks a lot sharper.

Bangladesh inflicted a nine-wicket defeat on Canada in their first warm-up outing but then slumped to an 89-run defeat against Pakistan. Their greatest chance of beating the Indians is if their big guns Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib Al Hasan put in their top performance on the day. The fact that they are playing in front of home fans should also inspire the entire team to give it their best.

The context

The last time these two teams met at the ICC World Cup was in West Indies in 2007. Back then Bangladesh had stunned the cricketing fraternity by pulling off an incredible win against the Indians. After dismissing a reputed Indian batting lineup for a mere 191 runs at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Bangladesh had chased down the target, to everyone’s surprise, with five wickets to spare. The loss paved the way for India’s early exit from the tournament. Indian players who played in that game will be itching to make amends.

The squads

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra, Piyush Chawla and R Ashwin.

Bangladesh:Shakib Al Hasan (c), Tamim Iqbal, Abdur Razzak, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Naeem Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Raqibul Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Shahriar Nafees, Suhrawadi Shuvo.