India will not "take Bangladesh lightly"

India lead the head-to-head 10-1 but have seen too many upsets this tournament to think the points are guaranteed. Bangladesh, by contrast, are planning down their chances, insisting India are here "to win the World Cup"

India began their 2022 T20 World Cup campaign in blockbuster fashion, edging Pakistan by four wickets in front of a packed house at the MCG.

They followed it up with a 56-run win over the Netherlands, with half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav and a team bowling performance lighting up Sydney.

However, their winning streak came to an end against South Africa on Sunday, slipping to a five-wicket defeat with two balls to spare as they fell agonisingly short of defending 133.

Rohit Sharma's side now sit second in group two, one point behind table-topping South Africa, but with matches against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to come, they will still feel confident of securing a spot in the semi-finals, particularly against the former who they have beaten 10 times in 11 T20Is.

However, having seen England slip up against Ireland, West Indies undone by Scotland and Ireland, Zimbabwe overcome Pakistan and Namibia crush Sri Lanka, Rahul Dravid says his side will not head into this match thinking two points are guaranteed.

^{Rahul Dravid has thrown his support behind out of form opener KL Rahul [Cameron Spencer/Getty Images]}

"We respect them a lot," he said. "They're a very good team. I think this format and this World Cup has really shown us that honestly you can't take any team lightly: Ireland showed that against England. We've seen enough games this competition.

"I think the fact that it is already such a short format, the margins of victory and defeat, even if they're 12 runs, 15 runs, it's [a couple of hits] one way or the other and that's the game.

"It's already a rushed, noisy format and on top of that, these conditions have levelled the playing field to a large extent because the boundaries are certainly bigger, and some of those big hits you expect in the subcontinent to go for six… it's just not happening that easily, people are getting out.

"We certainly don't take Bangladesh lightly. Our preparation, our planning will be as meticulous as it was against South Africa. No different."

THE BIG MATCH

Who: India v Bangladesh

Where: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide

When: Wednesday, November 2 (6.30pm local time, 8am BST)

Prediction: India

Assessing his side's performances in the tournament, Dravid continued: "We've been good. There were a few opportunities we could have taken in the last game [against South Africa] – that happens. I thought we were very good in the other two games, very good against Pakistan in difficult conditions.

"Margins are so small. Every opportunity you take, especially when you've only managed to score 133, you've got to take it. We didn't [against South Africa] but that's not because of a lack of effort or anything."

Yadav and Kohli have been among India's standout performers, each scoring two half-centuries in three innings and striking at 178.66 and 144.44, respectively. With the ball, Arshdeep Singh is the leading wicket-taker, picking up seven wickets and maintaining an economy of 7.83, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4.87 economy) has been miserly.

However, Yadav and Kohli aside, several players have struggled with the bat. Sharma (53 versus the Netherlands) and Hardik Pandya (40 against Pakistan) are the only other players to produce a double-figure knock with the bat while KL Rahul, in particular, has come in for a lot of criticism after scoring just 22 runs in three innings and striking at 64.70, but Dravid is fully behind his out of form opener.

"He's a fantastic player and he's got a proven track record," he said "These things can happen in T20 sometimes. It's not that easy for top-order batsmen. This tournament has been pretty challenging. In a practice game against Australia with Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, it was a pretty good attack, he batted superbly to get 50 or 60. So he's playing really well.

^{Shakib Al Hasan has played down his side's chances against India [Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images]}

"Just hoping it all clicks together over the next [few] games. We know his quality, we know his ability, and he's really well suited for these kind of conditions, these kind of pitches.

"We have confidence in our players. We have belief in our players. T20 is a high-risk format in the sense that you're asking people to play a high-risk brand of cricket, a positive brand of cricket."

As for Bangladesh, they head into this clash with semi-final ambitions of their own after bouncing back from a 104-run defeat against South Africa to defeat Zimbabwe by three runs.

Najmul Hossain Shanto has emerged as their form batter, striking 71 runs off 55 balls – his maiden T20I half-century – against Zimbabwe while Afif Hossain has a team-leading strike rate of 133.33. With the ball, Taskin Ahmed has been a nuisance, picking up eight wickets in 11 overs, but aside from Mustafizur Rahman, who boasts an economy of 5, Bangladesh's bowlers have been expensive.

Playing down his side's chances, captain Shakib Al Hasan said: "India is the favourite team, they came here to win the World Cup. We are not favourites, we did not come here to win the World Cup. We know if we win against India, it will be called an upset. We will try to play our best cricket.

"They have tied up teams below 160 in all their matches. We have to bat really well to get 160-170, which is par score in this World Cup. We have to play really well against India's bowling, they have some world class players."

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