BIRMINGHAM: 2015: A maiden appearance in the knockout stages of World Cup. 2017: Maiden appearance in the semifinals of an ICC event.
In 2016, a heartbreaking defeat against India despite being the best team for 39.3 overs. Three balls changed the course of the game. And that World T20 defeat still seems to be hurting them.
That evening in Bengaluru presented them an opportunity to heal wounds that they suffered against India in Melbourne a year back. About 160 million believed they were robbed of a win. Even their board president said a conspiracy prevented the team from winning.
And here they are in Birmingham, facing their biggest rival after an unexpected entry into the semifinals of the Champions Trophy. This will not be an easy fixture for India, as Bangladesh have shown in recent times that they can beat the best. Before the Champions Trophy, they defeated New Zealand on a seaming surface in Dublin, and a couple of days back, came back from the brink, against the same opponents to fix a date with India.
Unlike before, when Bangladesh teams used to be satisfied by defeating one big team, there is much more purpose and belief in them. Pressure will invariably be on them as the match against India has the potential to be the biggest ever in their history. “On our day we can do anything, to be honest. We are a team that is trying to improve ourselves a lot, from what we have been. We have tried to play at our best in every match. We don’t know what is going to be the result, but once you play at your best, things change. Even if we look at the last match, when Ross and Williamson batted really well, we came back strongly. Never gave up on the ground. These things matter a lot rather than losing or what’s going to happen,” Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said.
With this being their first semifinal appearance in any big-ticket event, there is a considerable amount of pressure, which Mortaza said the team is trying to address. Though India is more familiar to such high-pressure matches, captain Virat Kohli believed that it won’t give his side any advantage.
“Yeah, we’ve been in this kind of games before quite a few times, but there are no guarantees in this sport. As we’ve seen in the league stages, a lot of teams have surprised the opposition, and we’re certainly not taking anything for granted. We will use whatever momentum we’ve gained in this tournament to execute what we want to. We’re not going to go according to past results and what we’ve done in the past tournaments. We’re going to treat it as how we treated the last game, and our mindset does not differ.”
Though India losing on Thursday might be termed as an upset, Kohli believed that no result is beyond this Bangladesh team’s reach.
“It’s no surprise anymore to anyone that they are really playing well, and they’ve improved their cricket, and it’s a credit to their setup and the kind of players they have now, who are taking more responsibility. And they are a very dangerous side on their day. You know, no one takes any opposition for granted, and Bangladesh have taken huge strides,” Kohli complimented.