The Rise of Bangladesh: From Whipping Boys to Challengers
They may be ranked five places below India in the ODI rankings, but Bangladesh can no longer be cast aside as minnows. They are not only challenging the daddy roosters, India, but also dishing out mouth-watering contests.
We have all heard the famous saying "love thy neighbour". But while India and Bangladesh have lately been busy firming their bilateral ties, on the cricket pitch, there has been love's labour lost. Sparks have flown and lit up the 22 yards, throwing up the promise of yet another great Asian rivalry.(Dhoni Fined for Collision)
Bangladeshis are fiercely proud people. So the official broadcaster's condescending advertisement saying "bachcha ab bachcha nahi raha", must have hurt!(Gavaskar Credits BPL)
No wonder then, they wanted to rise to the occasion. With a point to prove, Bangladesh unleashed a battery of pacers on the Indians in the first ODI. Mustafizur Rahaman tried fair, and some may even say unfair means to stop India, thereby his brushes first with Rohit Sharma and then the mid-pitch collision with MS Dhoni, one that got him celebrity like following on the social media. But that also got the 19 year old a fine of 50%.(Dhoni, Mashrafe Play Down Controversy)
India's ODI Captain MS Dhoni said, "He thought that I will move and I thought that he will. But both of us ended up colliding. I had to take the shortest path, otherwise I would have been run out. It looked like a typical street clash. Thankfully he did not get injured, and I did not get injured either".(Fan Delirious With Joy)
The intensity cannot be called a flash in the pan. Rubel Hossain gave a nasty send off to Virat Kohli in the World Cup quarter final. Perhaps Rubel was charged up after an earlier altercation with India's Vice- Captain. The ill-tempered match left a bitter taste in the mouths of many Bangladeshi supporters. Effigies of Indian players were burnt in Dhaka and even the ICC President Mustafa Kamal resigned in protest. NDTV's cricket expert Sunil Gavaskar says, "There is an extra edge in the encounters between India and Bangladesh now. That is because they play on level terms. At the Test level, Bangladesh is not as confident but in ODIs they refuse to give an inch."
The friction between the two teams can be traced back to a comment by Virender Sehwag on the eve of the Chittagong test in 2010. He had said, "Bangladesh are an ordinary side. They can't beat India because they can't take 20 wickets." Sehwag may not be with the team anymore, but the whipping boys of Asian Cricket are finally challenging Big Brother India and setting up extra-ordinary encounters.