Bangladesh Win The Toss And Elect To Bat First Against Pakistan

Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat first against Pakistan at Kolkata's Eden Gardens Stadium today. The Bangladesh cricket team is aiming to break their five-game losing streak in the ICC ODI World Cup.

In an effort to bolster their struggling batting lineup, Bangladesh made a single change, replacing Mahedi Hasan with batter Towhid Hridoy.

Pakistan, currently occupying the seventh position on the points table with two wins and four losses, made three substitutions. They brought in Fakhar Zaman, Agha Salman, and Usama Mir in place of Imam-Ul-Haq, Shadab Khan, and Mohammad Nawaz.

While the mathematical possibility of advancing to the semifinals still exists, Shakib and his team are virtually out of contention.

Nevertheless, they have a significant incentive to perform well, as their qualification for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy is at stake. The top seven teams from the World Cup group stage, along with host nation Pakistan, will participate in this eight-team tournament.

Bangladesh is currently second to last in the points table, having lost five out of six matches with just one win. To secure qualification for the event, they must accumulate more points.

Meanwhile, Pakistan holds a slim chance of making it to the semifinals, but a loss today would extinguish those hopes.

Here are the lineups for both teams:

Bangladesh:

- Liton Das

- Tanzid Hasan

- Najmul Hossain Shanto

- Shakib Al Hasan (c)

- Mushfiqur Rahim (w)

- Mahmudullah

- Towhid Hridoy

- Mehedi Hasan Miraz

- Taskin Ahmed

- Mustafizur Rahman

- Shoriful Islam

Pakistan:

- Abdullah Shafique

- Fakhar Zaman

- Babar Azam (c)

- Mohammad Rizwan (w)

- Saud Shakeel

- Iftikhar Ahmed

- Agha Salman

- Shaheen Afridi

- Usama Mir

- Mohammad Wasim Jr

- Haris Rauf