India's next challenge in the ongoing 2022 T20 World Cup will see them playing Bangladesh in a potential quarter-final clash. Still, the Bangladeshi skipper Shakib Al Hasan has talked down his team's chances against the Men in Blue and has asked his young players to play with a 'nothing to lose' mentality.
Bangladesh lost massively by 104 runs against South Africa, sandwiched between wins over the Netherlands and Zimbabwe. But facing India is a bigger challenge for Shakib, who also said that his team are not here to win the ultimate trophy. "We will be happy to inflict that upset. Both teams, on paper, are better than us. If we play well if it is our day, why can't we win? We have seen Ireland beat England, and Zimbabwe beat Pakistan in this World Cup. A similar result will definitely make us happy.
"As I said in Bangla before, India is the favourite team, they came here to win the World Cup. We are not favourites, we didn't come here to win the World Cup. We know very well that if we win against India, it will be called an upset. We will try to play our best cricket."
The skipper also believes that the 2007 T20 World Cup winners will be particularly dangerous at the Adelaide Oval, having played here 29 times compared to Bangladesh's once. "I can't say that (the day-night timing) makes it equally balanced (for both sides)," he said. "India have played plenty of matches in all formats in this ground [29 times, overall]. Only Taskin and I have played here from our team. Quite naturally, it is not the same feeling. We will try very hard to give our 100 per cent, to get the best result for the team.
"They have tied up teams below 160 in all their matches. We have to bat really well to get 160-170, which is a par score in this World Cup. We have to play really well against India's bowling. They have some world-class players," he added.
