Shakib under no illusions but keen on an ‘upset’

Bangladesh T20 skipper Shakib Al Hasan was under no illusions of his side's chances going into the Super 12 game against India today, but he did not fail to put the onus on India to get the result they need, with both teams tied on four points ahead of a crucial encounter at Adelaide.

Crucial matches, including finals, between the two teams have always gone in India's favour. The last time the two teams faced each other in a T20 World Cup, Bangladesh lost a closely-contested tie that shattered hearts and sent the team spiralling into despair. That game in Bengaluru remains one of the biggest disappointments in Bangladesh's cricketing history.

Shakib said India had come to this World Cup to win the trophy, reminding the opponents that it is a tie that they have to win. Bangladesh, having secured two wins in the Super 12 stage, have already produced their best-ever campaign, at least results-wise, in the showpiece event.

"India are favourites. They have come here to win the World Cup. We are not here to win the World Cup," Shakib said at the press conference yesterday. "You can understand the situation. If we win against India, it would be an upset. And we will try our best to upset India," he added.

"As I had said before the World Cup, every match is important and we want to maintain our approach and not think about which side we are playing or the situation. We want to enjoy the game," he said.

"In T20s, since it's the shortest format, most of the games are close encounters and keeping nerves in check is very important. What happened previously is that we lost close matches. We are learning to turn around from such positions. I won't say we have completely learned to do it, but we are starting to turn things around," he said.

"Our target is to play well in the next two matches. If we can win even one [of the remaining two games against India and Pakistan], it will count as an upset. If we can cause that upset, we will be very happy. But if we can't, there is not much to say. Both teams are better than us on paper. But if we play well and it's our day, why can't we win? We have seen in this World Cup that Ireland have beaten England and Zimbabwe defeated Pakistan. So a result like that would obviously make us happy," he said when asked about the target in the two matches in Adelaide.

India coach Rahul Dravid was not too keen to take on the pressure. "We respect them a lot. I think they're a very good team. This format and this World Cup has shown us you can't take any team lightly," Dravid told reporters yesterday.

"Ireland showed that against England ... The fact that it's already such a short format. The margin of victory and defeat, even if it is 12-15 runs, it's actually two hits. It's two hits one way or the other and that's the game," he added.

Bangladesh will be aware that India possess the kind of impact and ammunition to take the game away very early. South Africa's pace attack forced India's top-order into submission and with the Tigers' pace attack showing promise, Bangladesh will hope their pace can dent some of India's attacking force as well.

Pace was the key to Bangladesh's success last time around at this very venue, when the Tigers knocked England out of the 2015 ODI World Cup. An upset similar to that is what the Tigers seek again.