Sports Reporter :
Motivated Bangladesh will face in-form defending champions India today in the quarter-final of the ICC World Cup Cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia. The match starts at 9.30 am (Bangladesh Time). Bangladesh qualified in the quarter-final of the World Cup Cricket for the first time.
On the other hand, reigning champions India are in a very good form. Team India did not taste any defeat in their Group B campaign. Before today’s match, Bangladesh faced India in 28 One Day International (ODI) matches. Of them, India composed 24 victories while Bangladesh won in the three occasions and one match was abandoned.
But it is noteworthy that Bangladesh beat India by five wickets in their group match of the ICC World Cup Cricket 2007 at Port of Spain in West Indies. That victory will give inspiration to the Tigers. Captain of Bangladesh National Football Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said, “The group stage was more important for us because back home all people are expecting that we beat some bigger side and go through.”
He said, “That was more pressure, I think. From tomorrow, I think as I said, the boys are very relaxed. They just want to perform on the biggest ground. They have played already on this ground, but that match wasn’t good for us. Hopefully we’ll play our best shot tomorrow, and the boys are really excited.”
Indian in-form batsman Suresh Raina said, ” I wanted to congratulate Bangladesh for qualifying for the quarter-final. It’s good to see India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – all four subcontinent teams – in the quarter-final. Earlier people were saying that we don’t have all-rounders for conditions, so it’s good to see the teams from subcontinent through.”
Teams:
Bangladesh (probable): Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah Riyad, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (Wicketkeper), Sabbir Rahman, Arafat Sunny/Nasir Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza (Captain), Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed. India (probable): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (Captain & Wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav.
