Last time, India played a World Cup quarterfinals, it was during the 2011 edition. The match was at Ahmedabad’s Motera stadium and the opposition was Australia. It was a tough game and India made most of the home support.
Even most of the Bangladeshis were supporting India to come good. The neighbourly affections paid rich dividends after India crushed Australia, reached the semis and eventually won the coveted trophy.
But when India take on Bangladesh at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday, the entire nation will rally behind their team. This is the biggest moment for the Bangladeshi cricket fans, as their team is playing the World Cup quarters for the first time.
It’s, probably, a national holiday in Bangladesh on Thursday. Starting from Dhaka, Mirpur, Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet, Narayanganj to Chittagong, not a single TV set will remain stitch-off.
There will be a few millions outside Bangladesh too who would be glued to their TV sets. After all, the opponent is India. Bangladesh, as a team, may not pose much of a threat to India, who are unbeaten so far in the World Cup.
However, Bangladesh has nothing to lose and hence it’s India who have to bother about their reputation. In addition to this, the new-look Indian team maybe oozing confidence but they are not aware of the kind of damage the Bangladesh team can do.
From this current lot, it’s only captain MS Dhoni who is aware of Bangladesh’s strength. In the 2007 World Cup, India were knocked by their neighbours in the preliminary stage. Dhoni, who incidentally was playing his first WC, is the only surviving member of the team which was led by Rahul Dravid.
Since then, a lot of transpired. Most importantly, India haven’t lost an international match to a lower-ranked team. The Indians may have lost a couple of close games but they were all against reputed teams.
However, India’s performance in this World Cup has been spotless as they have won all their six matches. The Indians were tested only twice – once against the West Indies and then against the Zimbabweans. In both occasions, the top-order failed to fire putting pressure on the middle-order. Captain Cool was at his best in both games as he steered India home.
On the other hand, Bangladesh, who have three wins from six games, stumped the pundits by knocking out England. Hence, there is great exuberance in the team as they fancy their chances against their much fancied neighbours. But the Tigers will need to come up with something special to knock India out. They are, after all, playing against the defending world champions.
