Tigers face India with backs to the wall

Less than 48 hours after losing to Australia, Bangladesh will be up against another tournament favourites in India today with their chances of progressing to the semifinals of the ICC T20 World Cup hanging in the balance.

In their Group 1 Super Eight match in Antigua yesterday, the Tigers put up 140-8 on the board but could hardly test the Aussies, who raced to 100-2 in 11.2 overs in a rain-interrupted chase and were eventually declared winners by 28 runs in DLS method.

The ease with which Australia batted against the Bangladesh attack, which has been the team's strongest department throughout the competition, and the scorecards of the other matches in the Super Eight are indicating that runs are flowing more freely now, unlike the first round.

In the first four matches of the Super Eight, the average run-rate has been 8.60, which is significantly higher than the first round's average scoring rate of 6.71.

This upsurge in runs will make Bangladesh's task even more arduous against India, who are fresh off a convincing 47-run win over Afghanistan in their Super Eight opener on Thursday, where they posted 181-8.

Much like the Australia match, Bangladesh will be tested against a side that look stronger on paper in all departments.

India boast one of the strongest batting line-ups in the competition, and although their star batter Virat Kohli is yet to hit his stride, making just 29 runs in four innings, it hasn't stopped their undefeated march so far in the tournament.

India's ace in the hole so far in this World Cup has been pacer Jasprit Bumrah. His economy rate of 3.46 is the best amongst bowlers who have played at least four matches, and on top of that, he has also claimed eight wickets, conceding just 6.50 runs per wicket.

Bangladesh's fragile top-order will have to try and preserve their wickets against Bumrah and Co early on and again deal with the pacer's searing yorkers at the death.

History is also not on Bangladesh's side, as the Tigers have ended up on the losing side in all four previous encounters against India in T20 World Cups.

The last two of those defeats were agonising for Bangladesh, as they lost by just one run in Bengaluru in 2016 and by five runs in DLS method in Adelaide in 2022.

A defeat today will douse Bangladesh's faint hopes of making it to the knockout phase of the T20 World Cup for the first time. A washout would keep them in the hunt while a win would put the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side with a golden opportunity of making it to the top four.

But to topple India, a lot has to go right for the Tigers and even more things have to go horribly wrong for India, which at the moment seems unlikely.