After India cruised to victory over Bangladesh at Gwalior in the first T20I, the action shifts to the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi as the hosts look to seal in the series with an unassailable lead.

Arshdeep Singh kick-started the momentum in the opening match with early wickets before Varun Chakravarthy spun the match in India’s favour in the middle overs. Both players returned with three wickets each. The exciting Mayank Yadav also had a memorable debut, proving too fast for the Bangladesh batters to take on.

Chasing 128 runs, the batting department exploited the confidence given by the bowlers. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma got going from the outset, before Suryakumar Yadav produced some of his trademark big hitting. 

However, it was Hardik Pandya who stole the show with the bat. The all-rounder smashed 39 runs off 16 balls, which includes five fours and two sixes. The no-look uppercut and the backfoot punch over covers for a six caused the crowds to hoot in excitement and he finished the match with another big six over mid-wicket. 

India chased the total in 11.5 overs, displaying complete dominance in every department. The all-round strength of the Men in Blue will be tough to challenge in Delhi as well, but the more-experienced visitors will hope for a turnaround to their fortunes.

Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav have some exciting options on the bench to experiment with, such as Tilak Verma and Harshit Rana, but they are unlikely to change things up too much from the starting line-up of the first game. 

A victory in Delhi will seal the T20I series for the Men in Blue, which is India’s first at home since becoming World Champions. Shubman Gill had led India to victory in Zimbabwe, while Suryakumar led India to triumph in Sri Lanka earlier this year. 

India’s predicted playing XI:

Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (c), Nitish Reddy, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav