World T20, India vs Bangladesh: Time for slam bang

BENGALURU: While all the attention has been on India's misfiring top order of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina in the World T20 so far, the focus returns to Virat Kohli ahead of another crucial encounter against Bangladesh at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here. The shining light of MS Dhoni's batting unit, Kohli was instrumental in guiding the Men in Blue to a six-wicket victory against Pakistan and will be expected to craft another win on Wednesday.
While he showed grit in a losing cause against New Zealand in India's opener, he mixed composure and guile while dismantling arch-rivals Pakistan. Against Bangladesh, the 27-year-old might just have to exhibit his explosive prowess as India bid to improve their net run rate (-0.895). Dhoni's men are currently fourth behind Australia in Group 2 and a big result will ease their qualification burden ahead of a potentially slippery meeting with Steve Smith's side in Mohali on Sunday.
Kohli, with five scores above 40 in his last seven T20I innings, has merged dependability and aggression perfectly to elevate himself to a different level in this format. He will be the main threat for a side that is already missing suspended bowlers Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny. Such is Bangladesh's plight that they are forced to rely on Mustafizur Rah man, who returned from an injury in their loss to Australia on Monday "It is disappointing losing two key players in key situations," Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan who like Rahman picked up two wickets against Australia, said on the eve of the match. "We can't help it. We need to move on."
Bangladesh will also be wary of Dhawan, who foiled their plans of an Asia Cup title at home. Another bats man in their crosshairs will be Rohit who cracked a brutal 209 at this ground in a One-Dayer against Australia in 2013. The duo, despite being betrayed by form, could prove vita in answering Dhoni's call for a big win. "This format is so quick, you can't judge anyone in two bowling spells or two or three innings," said Indian pacer Ashish Nehra, defend ing his colleagues. "There is a lot of pressure on batsmen and they don' have time to settle in. They have to go from ball one."
BEWARE, IT'S MARCH 23!
March 23 is a date that does not augur well for Indian fans as far as World Cups are concerned. On this day in 2003, India were outplayed by favourites Australia in the 50-over World Cup final at Jo'burg. In 2007, the Men in Blue suffered a humbling group stage exit from the 50-over showpiece after a 69-run defeat to Sri Lanka at Trinidad.