Adil Khan sounds out warning to Bangladesh

India defender Adil Khan has said that his side will come with all guns blazing when they face Bangladesh in the next World Cup Group E qualifying fixture in Doha on Monday.

The 32-year-old centre-back, during an interview with the All Indian Football Federation, said that Bangladesh have improved a lot in recent times but they will definitely come with great intent following a spirited performance against Qatar the other day.

"Our defence is doing well. They held (Asian) champions Qatar for so long. Definitely we'll give Bangladesh a tough fight. It's going to be a good battle. We are ready for them and they are also doing well. In these years, we've seen them make a lot of improvement. So it's going to be a good battle," the FC Goa centre-back said when asked about their upcoming match against Bangladesh.

India are fourth on the table with three points while Bangladesh lie bottom with two points, one of those coming in the reverse fixture played in Kolkata in November 2019. Bangladesh, despite taking a 43rd-minute lead through Saad Uddin, had to leave the pitch with a draw courtesy of Adil's towering header in the 88th minute.

Keeping that performance from Bangladesh and the recent draw against Afghanistan in mind, Adil feels the match on Monday will be an equal battle.

"We did well against Qatar. I think Bangladesh now also doing well. It's like equal. We played against them last season (reverse fixture in 2019). They were good enough to play against and they gave a good fight," said the tall centre-back, who remained an unused sub in India's 1-0 defeat against Qatar on Thursday.

India played 73 minutes of that match with 10 men following right-back Rahul Bheke's early dismissal, but managed to keep the defending Asian champions from scoring more than one goal. The defensive organisation gives Adil the confidence but he believes that shelve that approach and play attacking football to get all three points against Jamie Day's men.

"The team is very confident because for the second time we held them (Qatar) for a long period. The first time we played against them it was 0-0. The second time it was 1-0 but the team did a great job with one man down. The team will definitely come with blazing guns against Bangladesh," Adil said.