The World Cup quarterfinals are here and India faces its neighbours Bangladesh in what promises to be an interesting encounter. On one hand Bangladesh will play with nothing to lose while India will play with the pressure of defending their crown.
Let’s have a look at 4 BIG reasons why India should be wary of Bangladesh when they face off in the much hyped about quarterfinals in the 2015 World Cup:
1. 2007 World Cup:
One of the biggest upsets in the history of the World Cups was when on the fateful day exactly 8 years from today (17th March 2007) in Port of Spain, the Bangladeshis threw out the 2003 finalists out of the tournament. Chasing 192 to win the Tigers romped home with 5 wickets to spare. The current Bangladeshi captain Mashrafe Mortaza was the man of the match on that day with a 4 wicket haul.
2. Out of the top 10 batsmen that have the maximum number of runs in the India versus Bangladesh encounters, Bangladesh have 3 in the top 10 while India have 2. This only refers to the currently ‘active’ players who will be participating in the quarterfinal come tomorrow.
For Bangladesh there is Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal. While on the other hand there is Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni for India. In short in terms of scoring against the particular opposition, Bangladesh have got more experience as compared to India.
3. Out of the top 10 bowlers to have taken maximum wickets in the India versus Bangladesh matches, Bangladesh have 3 active players while India have none! The suspects are usual in the form Shakib Al Hasan , Mashrafe Mortaza and Taskin Ahmed.
4. Bangladesh are set to play their 300th match in the history of their one day internationals. There will be hence that extra bit of motivation going for the Tigers.
The match promises to be an exciting one. Let’s see if the Tigers come out unscathed or mercilessly hunted down by the men in blue.
By Ashirbad Hazarika
