India wary of Bangladesh's home juggernaut
Since their 2-1 loss in 2015 in this country, India though won all of the five matches between the two sides, they were pushed vehemently which made their victory extremely hard.
India captain Rohit Sharma believes the rivalry between India and Bangladesh has gone to such an intense level that they would have to be at their supreme best if they want to win an ODI series in this country.
Since their 2-1 loss in 2015 in this country, India though won all of the five matches between the two sides, they were pushed vehemently which made their victory extremely hard.
Surprisingly, despite being vulnerable in the T20 format, Bangladesh always found them in competitive mode against India. They even won a T20 match against India in this period and put the mighty neighbor in sword for the victory in other matches.
"I think it has been an exciting rivalry for all these years. You know the last seven-eight years Bangladesh cricket team has been a different team, they are very challenging teams and we didn't have easy wins against them," Rohit Sharma said here today ahead of the first of three-match ODI series against Bangladesh.
"We have to play good cricket to win against them. And every time we played them it was a very close game. Even in the T20 World Cup it was a close game. I think in 2015 we lost the series here. We know they are a very improved team in the last few years. So we have to play our best cricket to win this. It is not going to be easy for us," he said.
In Bangladesh, India would have to deal with partisan crowds also, a thing that they are not so used to in other countries. In fact India has a fan base all over the country apart from Bangladesh. Rohit Sharma also admitted it.
"Very much, yes (India will be under some pressure from the crowd). The crowd here can be intimidating. There is no doubt. They are very passionate fans of cricket and they get right behind the team. Which is pretty exciting for the team," the India captain said.
And at the same time, there are a lot of players in the India squad, who don't have any experience playing in Bangladesh. Rohit though said his players are ready to take up any kind of challenge posed by the hosts.
"For us, a lot of the guys are coming to Bangladesh for the first time. But that doesn't change a thing. We are used to playing in such big crowds, especially when you tour places like England and Australia, the crowd there can also be quite intimidating and they want to make sure that their team wins. They want to get behind their team. It's the same thing here as well. But I think it's not going to affect our boys too much. I think they are used to being under pressure, being in front of a lot of people, and being challenged. So, I don't think that's going to make much of a difference," he added.
