It was the night before the start of the 2011 World Cup in Dhaka. I remember leaving the stadium around 1:30 am expecting the ride to the hotel to be smooth and swift. Normally, it takes 2-3 hours from Dhaka to Mirpur, with the world’s worst traffic greeting you every step of the way. To my surprise, there were 6000-8000 people outside the stadium at that hour shouting slogans and enjoying themselves. Most did not have tickets to the game the next day but were just there. Bangladesh had beaten India in the 2007 World Cup, and local fans were expecting lightening to strike twice. It did not happen thanks to a Virender Sehwag masterclass, but what the crowd stood for was a kind of passion world cricket had rarely seen.
India versus Bangladesh has its own history. Having lost to Bangladesh in the 2007 World Cup, India came back to thrash their hosts in Dhaka in the inaugural match four years later. It was the start of a rivalry that played out yet again in Melbourne during the 2015 World Cup. India won thanks to a Rohit Sharma century, but Bangladesh fans had every reason to feel let down. Rohit was out, only for Aleem Dar to call it a no-ball, and used the let-off to take the match beyond Bangladesh, who had already accounted for England’s exit from the World Cup.
That the wound hadn’t healed was evident when India toured Bangladesh months after the World Cup. Not only did the hosts win 3-0, the media and the fans went overboard with cartoons showing the Bangladeshi Tiger pouncing on the Indians. Utterly distasteful morphed photographs of the Bangladesh skipper holding India captain MS Dhoni’s severed head were doing the rounds, and from a sociological perspective, the rivalry had started to embed itself deep in peoples’ minds.
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Close matches added spice to the growing intensity, with India winning the World T20 contest in Bengaluru by a single run thanks to Dhoni’s brilliance and presence of mind off the last ball. That the scar was deep was evident when Mushfiqur Rahim celebrated India’s loss to the West Indies on social media. Bangladesh came close yet again in Sri Lanka in March 2018 before a Dinesh Kartik six off the last ball sealed their fate. They had pushed India but were not able to close things out.
Bangladesh are the only team in the world at the moment that can match India for support, and it was no surprise that a third of Edgbaston was chanting Joy Bangla during the 2017 Champions Trophy. The chants became a whimper with India winning rather easily, but now the Bangladesh fans have one more opportunity.
On paper, India are a better unit. The Indian top order is looking unstoppable and it will take a lot from Bangladesh to stop the top three. In bowling, India, with Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav to follow the new-ball burst, will come relentlessly. Run-scoring against this bowling unit will not be easy.
Key games, however, are not just played with skill. They are played as much in the mind, and that’s where Bangladesh can’t be ruled out. While the challengers start as the underdog, Rohit and India will know they have to bring out their A game to get past the Tigers in Dubai.
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