Shakib hasn’t been back in Bangladesh since May 2024 – he is based in the USA for the past few years. Though he hasn’t played for Bangladesh since October 2024, he has been in action in franchise T20 leagues, including the PSL and the CPL. During a recent interview to the Beard Before Wicket podcast, Shakib announced that he had reversed his decision to retire from international cricket. He said that he wanted to retire after playing a full international series, though he didn’t put a timeline to it.

“I am officially not retired from all formats. This is the first time I’ll be revealing that. My plan is to go back to Bangladesh, play one full series of ODI, Test, and T20, and retire,” he had said in December last year. “I mean, I can retire from all formats in a series. So it can start from T20I, ODI and Test, or Test, ODI, T20I. Either way, I’m fine, but I want to play a whole series and retire. That’s what I want.”

Mashrafe, meanwhile, has been out of the public eye since August 2024, with very little known about his whereabouts. He was still playing in the Dhaka Premier League in 2024 despite playing his last international match in 2020. Mashrafe was serving his second term as an Awami League MP when the government was overthrown by a revolution led by students in August that year.

On the subject of the BCB elections held last year, Haque said the proceedings were “questionable”. Haque was reportedly backing the Tamim Iqbal-led alliance, which pulled out of the race citing corruption and unfair practices at the time.

“I have said it before and I will say it again: it was a questionable election of the BCB,” Haque said. “But since I am now in a responsible position, I will sit down with them and discuss how we can move to a better stage.”

His predecessor as BCB president, Aminul Islam, has reportedly left the country last week.

[Cricinfo]

Now India will look to go back to try to score big. They haven’t yet scored more than 209 despite batting first in all three games. Ahmedabad at night is the perfect scenario for them. Four of the last five first innings in Ahmedabad in the night have been over 210.

Netherlandswill want to prove they are not mere props, a vehicle to see how much India can push the limits of what scores are absurd. They were within one catch of beating Pakistan, they beat Namibia, and will want to show they are no pushovers.

India will want to bat first should they win the toss, but it will be interesting to see whether Netherlands want to avoid an impossible target or do what teams do to give themselves the best chance to win in the night in Ahmedabad.

He is the best T20 batter in the world, but Abhishek Sharma’s initiation to the World Cup has been an inauspicious one: golden duck, stomach illness, four-ball duck. And it doesn’t say anything about Abhishek’s skill or temperament. It is just one of those things. But Abhishek will want to get it out of the way so it doesn’t weigh on him in the Super Eights.

Netherlands will look to borrow from Abhishek’s first two dismissals in the World Cup. As it is, they like to open the bowling with offspinner Aryan Dutt. . After Salman Agha tied Abhishek down for three balls and got him out off the fourth, this belief will be reaffirmed. Do mind, though, that Ahmedabad is no Colombo. You can trust yourself to clear the infield on this batting paradise.

Outside of Harshit Rana’s last-minute injury and withdrawal from the tournament, all other availability issues that India faced are now sorted. The only change they will likely make is go back to Arshdeep Singh ahead of Kuldeep Yadav on the quicker Ahmedabad surface.

India (probable): Abhishek Sharma,  Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma,  Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Hardik Pandya,  Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube,  Axar Patel,  Arshdeep Singh,  Jasprit Bumrah,  Varun Chakravarthy.

Netherlands have been alternating between Timm van der Gugten and Kyle Klein in their first three matches. Paul van Meekeren has played only one of their three matches, making way for left-arm quick Fred Klaasen. It will eventually come down to two of three quicks.

Netherlands (probable):  Michael Levitt,  Max O’Dowd,  Bas de Leede,  Colin Ackermann,  Scott Edwards (capt & wk),  Zach Lion-Cachet,  Logan van Beek,  Aryan Dutt,  Roelof van der Merwe, two out of Kyle Klein, Fred Klaassen and Paul van Meekeren.

[Cricinfo]