Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji identify the Most Valuable Players of World Cup 2019.
The onus would be on their famed batting line-up of Kohli, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell to start firing once again and put pressure on the KKR batsmen.
Captain Kane Williamson, all-rounder Vijay Shankar and comeback man Wriddhiman Saha will look to score in the key match.
Dhoni's men will be slight favourites as it will be Bairstow's last game
Gujarat Lions were pleasantly surprised to see a seaming track on offer at the Edens Gardens and made full use of the conditions to set up a five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders.
India skipper Virat Kohli was pushed to the fifth spot by his English counterpart Joe Root, who rose two rungs to third in the latest ICC Test rankings for batsmen, even as Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin moved up in the bowlers' chart.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the interesting numbers from the match:
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza, on Friday, hinted that he may end his international career after the 2016 season with the ICC World T20 in all likelihood his last global event.
Indian off-spinner R Ashwin on Sunday lost his top position in the International Cricket Council Test rankings, displaced by England pacer Stuart Broad, even as Ajinkya Rahane remained the country's top-ranked batsman at joint 10th in the latest list.
Rajneesh Gupta presents us all the numbers that matter in T20 World Cup 2021.
Mumbai Indians need to rethink their strategy; Narine boost for Kolkata Knight Riders.
Virat Kohli (fourth), Shikhar Dhawan (seventh) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (ninth) have also maintained their respective positions in the ICC ODI batting chart.
Images from Tuesday's IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders, in Chennai.
For Sri Lanka, it was the second successive time that they were forced to share points. The Island nation's last game against Pakistan was also a washed out.
For Kohli, what matters is applying himself according to the demands of the situation.
India may be the outright favourites in the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final against Bangladesh but the defending champions will be under more pressure, former captains Mohammad Ashraful and Habibul Bashar said on Wednesday.
For India, who are considered as title contenders, a good showing in the Asia Cup will give them the much-needed boost going into the World T20.
Kohli had achieved his highest rating after the Southampton Test against England earlier this year.
Unstoppable so far with clinical performances, a formidable India will square off against a passionate and sprightly Bangladesh in their quest for continental supremacy in the final of the Asia Cup Twenty20 cricket tournament, in Mirpur, on Sunday.
Indians dominated the limited-over teams by having three and four players in the ODI and T20I respectively
'It was a clinical performance from the start'
India restored some pride with a consolation 77-run win over Bangladesh in third and final ODI to prevent the spirited hosts from securing a 3-0 series whitewash.
An in-form Delhi Capitals will fancy their chances of securing a play-off berth when they face Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League in Sharjah on Tuesday.
Martin Guptill stroked a fluent century to help New Zealand edge past Bangladesh by three wickets with seven deliveries to spare, in the ICC World Cup Pool A match in Hamilton, on Friday.
India will look to win and seal their semi-finals berth.
How India's players fared in the Asia Cup.
Virat Kohli strengthened his position at the top of ICC ODI rankings for batsmen by touching a career-high 911 points, while Kuldeep Yadav broke into the top-10 of the bowlers' chart at sixth, on Wednesday.
Enduring a forgettable outing in the first half of this year's IPL, two-time former champions Kolkata Knight Riders would look for reversal of fortunes when they resume their campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the second phase of T20 league in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Kolkata Knight Riders will begin their title defence against a formidable Mumbai Indians side in the opening match of the eighth edition of Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata, on Wednesday.
Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said his team could have done it if it had even one batsman of Indian skipper Virat Kohli's calibre.
Ravichandran Ashwin is the lone Indian to feature in the top 10 of the latest Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings as he continues to lead the way in the all-rounders list.
He now inspires so much confidence in Virat Kohli that the India captain went with only five bowlers in Tuesday's victory against Bangladesh which secured their place in the semi-finals.
The problem with non-selection of an Indian player in the XI is more to do with lack of matches rather than poor show since they have won both the series that they played in 2021.
Kyle Coetzer's career-best 156 went in vain as Bangladesh scripted a brilliant chase to notch up a comprehensive six-wicket win over Scotland in their Pool A match of the ICC World Cup in Nelson.
Kolkata Knight Riders stormed into the final of the Indian Premier League on the back of a convincing 28-run win over Kings XI Punjab, with pacer Umesh Patel hogging the limelight with a fine display of fast bowling.
India captain Virat Kohli will end the year at the top of the ICC Test ranking chart for batsmen but five-day specialist Cheteshwar Pujara slipped a place to fifth. With 928 points, Kohli is way ahead of second-placed Australian maestro Steve Smith (911) and New Zealand's inspirational skipper Kane Williamson (822), while Australia's Marnus Labuschagne, who has amassed 1,085 runs in 11 Tests this year, improved a place to grab the fourth spot.
Eyeing their first win of the season, Sunrisers Hyderabad would be looking to put up an improved show in their home ground where they lock horns with Kolkata Knight Riders, who would also be keen to get back to winning ways in the Indian Premier League.
On paper, Kolkata Knight Riders are overwhelming favourites against King's XI Punjab.
Riding on leg-spinner Rashid Khan's brilliant effort, Sunrisers Hyderabad produced an inspired bowling display to eke out a fighting 13-run win over in-form Kings XI Punjab in a low-scoring IPL match in Hyderabad, on Thursday.
Bangladesh thumped England in a bowler-dominated contest after home skipper Mashrafe Mortaza's all-round brilliance secured their series-levelling 34-run victory in the second One-day International on Sunday.
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