Mirpur: When Bangladesh take on India in the first of the three one-day internationals on Thursday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium here in Dhaka, cricket fans in the country would egg their stars on to take revenge for their World Cup quarter-final ouster at the hands of the Indian team back in March this year.
It will be the first meeting in ODIs between the two nations since their controversy-marred World Cup quarter-final in Melbourne, which India won by 109 runs.
Bangladesh were left fuming at what they reckoned was unfair umpiring, prompting Mustafa Kamal to resign as the president of the International Cricket Council alleging Indian bias.
Three months have passed since the match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but people in Bangladesh are still living in that grudge and want their team to remind the tourists of how their team was at the receiving end in Australia.
"The quarter-final match at the World Cup was marred with bias towards the Indian team. Bangladesh team was made to lose the match. Now we want our team to take revenge from India," said a fan who had come here to support the team in the first ODI on Thursday.
"Bangladesh are a strong team in ODIs. We want our boys to repeat the performance against Pakistan. We are behind our team," said another fan.
Bangladesh have enjoyed considerable success in limited-overs cricket since the World Cup, having stunned England to make the World Cup quarter-finals before whitewashing Pakistan 3-0 at home a month later.
Bangladesh ODI captain Masrafe Mortaza, however, on Wednesday stated that his men have moved on from the World Cup defeat.
"I expect my players to forget about the World Cup controversy. We always battle on the field. But I don't think any of the players are thinking about the controversy," he said.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni too ruled out to take Bangladesh lightly, saying that they are a good side in ODIs.
"They are a very good ODI team. We aren't taking them lightly. Also if you see they have been playing ODI cricket for a long time.
"Our target first and foremost is to win the series by taking one game at a time. That is something that makes our job slightly easy. Because there is also chance of rain, so it is important to remain focused," Dhoni said.
All three ODIs will be played in Dhaka, with the second and third games scheduled for June 21 and 24. There is a reserve day in place for all the matches considering forecast for rain.
Courtesy-IBNlive