‘Mash is a fighter’

At the business end of a tournament, skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was once more faced with an all-too-familiar hurdle. In the last two ICC 50-over tournaments, it was India that stopped Bangladesh's march -- in the 2015 World Cup quarterfinal and the 2017 Champions Trophy semifinal. After an impressive run in the ongoing World Cup, Mashrafe and Co are left having to win against India today to stay alive in the race to the semifinals.

Mashrafe was under no illusions about the size of the task at hand when speaking at the pre-match press conference in Birmingham yesterday.

"Look, every time we play, we want to win, but India were the better side in the last few World Cups," Mashrafe said when asked about his team's chances. "We go out onto the field to play at our best, and let's see. You never know. If you have a very good day, play every area, and if we are 100 percent correct, then you never know. It's a sport that on your day you can beat anybody."

All sportsmen present a veneer of confidence ahead of a contest, but Mashrafe seemed to struggle to maintain his.

"I'm not surprised," Mashrafe answered when asked whether he expected the team to last this long in the World Cup. "I think there's not too much left. We have to play at our best. If we can manage to win, that will be great, but to be honest, both sides [India and Pakistan, their next opponents] are very strong. It's not going to be easy, but we have to play hard and have to be 100 percent in every area. Good thing that we're still in the tournament, maybe, maybe not [after tomorrow], but let's see. We have to play a lot better than what we have played."

And that is the nature of the challenge facing Bangladesh. Most observers have been impressed by Bangladesh's progress through the tournament -- beating West Indies, South Africa and Afghanistan and almost beating New Zealand. But with how the teams stack up -- India have the most varied bowling attack and the best players of spin bowling, Bangladesh's strength -- Mashrafe knew that his team would have to play even better to stand a chance against the 2011 and 1983 champions.

"Whenever we have beaten big teams, I don't think we have ever won by playing well in one department," Mashrafe said when asked if there was one area in which he would put Bangladesh ahead of India. "It has always been batting, bowling and fielding. If we can do well in all sectors, then of course we can win."

There may be one chink in India's armour and that is their top-heavy batting department. Opener Rohit Sharma and skipper Virat Kohli, at number three, have scored a lion's share of their runs and getting them early could expose a softer middle order. But Bangladesh seem ill-prepared to exploit that as well, as they have managed to take a wicket in the first 10 overs just twice in six matches. Pacers Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin have taken 10 wickets each, but only one of those wickets, that of Chris Gayle's wicket by Saifuddin, was taken by a pacer. Mashrafe meanwhile has just one wicket from six matches.

"It has not been ideal, for sure," Mashrafe said. "You need early wickets against India, otherwise they can get a very big score. But just because it has not happened before does not mean it won't happen tomorrow [Tuesday]."

That seems to be Bangladesh's way forward -- they have to find something that they have not yet found in the tournament.

The two games in the World Cup so far have already thwarted forecasts of matches basically coming down to a battle pitting bat against bat. Yesterday, West Indies shot Pakistan out for a paltry 105 in Nottingham and the day before, in a blockbuster opener at The Oval, England dismissed South Africa for 207 in just 39.1 overs to win by 105 runs. The two matches are an early indication that regardless of how batting-friendly the pitches in the United Kingdom may be this summer, when bowlers put their hands up -- like Jofra Archer did on the opening day and Oshane Thomas did yesterday -- they will have an impact.

For Bangladesh, who play their World Cup opener against South Africa at The Oval tomorrow, the opening match will have offered some encouragement, especially as the pitch will be the same as the one on which South Africa faltered. 

"I think we will be playing on the wicket that was played on yesterday [Thursday], which should be very good for us," Bangladesh bowling coach Courtney Walsh said in a press conference during the team's practice session at the venue yesterday. "At The Oval, you normally get good cricket wickets, good scores. I am anticipating a very good game. The wicket should play well, I expect it may help both departments in terms of a bit of spin, a bit of pace. We saw how it played yesterday, so we have a good idea how it might play on Sunday."

One of the encouraging signs for Bangladesh is that the wicket for the opener took some spin. While Bangladesh do not have specialist wrist-spinners like Imran Tahir of South Africa and England's Adil Rashid, both of whom looked most incisive among the slower bowlers, the Tigers do have highly skilled orthodox spinners in left-armer Shakib Al Hasan and right-arm off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz. The Tigers' specialist spin duo are both adept at bowling arm balls, which do not deviate off the surface, and would have taken note of England off-spinner Moeen Ali troubling the South Africans with a mixture of turners and arm balls. 

"It's a couple of days away, it will be a used wicket, so we have to take that into consideration. It's going to be like a four-day old wicket though, so it's not going to be like it was on the first day, so we will have to reassess that. It's still looking a very good wicket," Walsh added.

England skipper Eoin Morgan said after the match on Thursday that it was a slow wicket, and if that persists till Sunday, it will only aid Bangladesh, who are used to playing on slow wickets back home. It will help not just the spinners, but also the well-disguised cutters bowled by left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who gave indications of being back to his best in the warm-up game against India on Tuesday.

It is of course not all rosy for Bangladesh. The talk leading up to the warm-up game against India on May 28 was of the positivity surrounding the team after their victorious campaign in the Ireland tri-series had revealed a squad full of potential performers, but the 95-run loss to India left them with injury worries surrounding Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mustafizur Rahman and an unexpected one yesterday when all-important opener Tamim Iqbal walked off net practice after sustaining a blow to his left wrist.

"The guys have practised pretty well in the last couple of games. They played pretty well in the last tournament so the confidence level is pretty high. We just have to go out and enjoy the cricket. I know we lost the last warm-up game, but I am just happy the guys are in a good place, you can see the body language out there, enjoying the practice and the cricket. I am excited for Sunday and hoping that we can get a very good start."