England hope for a better showing
The poor outfield of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala was the focal point of both Bangladesh and England's pre-match press conferences on Monday ahead of their crucial World Cup clash today.
Bangladesh's spin bowling coach Rangana Herath downplayed the concerns regarding the outfield condition, saying he "was happy with it". However, from England's perspective, it appeared to be a big issue with their skipper Jos Buttler not shying away from labelling it as "poor".
Both teams have an interesting history in World Cups, with two wins for each in the four meet-ups between the two.
On pen and paper, defending champions England are the outright favourites for today's clash. However, England skipper Buttler still stayed guarded.
"We've had some excellent games against Bangladesh, a very good team and we respect every team that we play. And in World Cup matches, you expect really tough opponents and tough fixtures," said Buttler at the pre-match press conference yesterday.
The game against the Tigers will be a crucial one for England, especially after a massive nine-wicket defeat to 2019 runners-up New Zealand in their opener saw their net run-rate take a plunge.
"Both teams have only played one match, so we're very confident as a team. We know we can play better than we did in the last game and we look forward to putting in a good performance tomorrow," Buttler was confident of putting in a better display today.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, are brimming with confidence after beginning their World Cup campaign with a comprehensive six-wicket win over Afghanistan at the same venue two days ago.
Meanwhile, England's former World Cup-winning skipper Eion Morgan called Bangladesh "a tricky side" when he interacted with the media yesterday.
According to Morgan, the relatively less experienced campaigners stepping up for Bangladesh is a good sign.
"Look, historically, when they won games, they looked up to their bigger players. But one of the positives against Afghanistan was that their youngsters stood up. The likes of [Najmul Hossain] Shanto and [Mehedi Hasan] Miraz really took the pressure off," Morgan, who saw his side out of the 2015 World Cup at the hands of the Tigers.
Morgan also hailed Shakib's leadership qualities, mentioning that it could be a big factor for the Tigers against the defending champions today.
"Normally, [in Bangladesh's case] it's left to the more experienced players as it was a tricky chase [against Afghnaistan]. It was pretty similar to the game between India and Australia where the two experienced players took the responsibility and won the game. That will help the like of Shakib's performance and his leadership in tomorrow's [today] game if they continue to stand up," he said.