Hoping to bounce back from their defeat against Nepal in their final group match a couple of days ago, Bangladesh will be taking on tournament favourites India in the second semifinal of the SAFF U-20 Championship at the ANFA Complex in Lalitpur, Nepal today.

The match will kick off at 3:15 pm (Bangladesh Time), with the winners playing hosts Nepal, who yesterday beat Bhutan 4-1 in a shootout following a 1-1 draw in regulation time, in the final on August 28.

Before leaving for Nepal, Bangladesh coach and players vowed to play the final and win the regional youth championship in which they finished runners-up three times out of five editions.

However, getting to the final now seems to be an uphill task, especially since the way Bangladesh played in their 2-1 defeat against Nepal. In that game, a fumble from captain and goalkeeper Mehedi Hasan Srabon saw Nepal score the opener and then extend the lead just minutes later. Bangladesh did manage to pull a goal back that was not enough for the boys in red and green.

Since that defeat, Bangladesh coach Maruful Haque held a few mental-recovery and tactical sessions to boost the players.

"When we lost to Nepal, we assumed that we might have to play against India in the semifinals and that's what happened," said Maruful after yesterday's training session, hinting that they would have liked to avoid India before the final.

However, according to Maruful, Bangladesh can make it into the final if they go into the match hungry for a positive outcome.

"The players showed their dedication, hard work, and effort in the last two days and they have really been hungry for victory. If they can take this hunger into the match against India, I believe we can move into the final.

"If the boys can start the match with the mentality of bouncing back, then we hope we can advance to the final," Maruful added.

Captain Srabon also sounded optimistic ahead of the game.

"If we can play in line with the tactic of the coach, we can hope to leave the ground with a positive result," said Srabon, adding that the players must play according to the game plan instead of being driven by their emotion.

Bangladesh have won only twice against India, losing thrice and drawing twice in the eight matches they played in the previous five editions.