Watch: Rahul Dravid's brilliant reply to Shakib's 'not here to win World Cup' remark ahead of India vs Bangladesh match
Bangladesh have never beaten India in T20 World Cup. And in 11 T20I meetings overall, Bangladesh have managed to beat India only once, in 2019, in Delhi.
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan did not hesitate in admitting that they aren't title favourites at the T20 World Cup in Australia. And given their record against India, and the team they are, he added that if Bangladesh manage to beat the Men in Blue on Wednesday in Adelaide, it would be an "upset". However, head coach of the Indian team, Rahul Dravid, has quashed all the talk surrounding India as favourites in the contest and Shakib's remark on it.
Bangladesh have never beaten India in T20 World Cup. And in 11 T20I meetings overall, Bangladesh have managed to beat India only once, in 2019, in Delhi. Hence, when Shakib was asked about the World Cup match on Wednesday in the pre-game presser, he said, "We haven’t come here to win the World Cup, but India have. If we win tomorrow, it will be an upset victory. India are favourites tomorrow."
Later on Tuesday, when Dravid was asked about Shakib's remark, he denied that India will head into the contest as “favourites”, citing Ireland's win over England earlier in this tournament.
"I think we respect them a lot. I think they're a very good team. I think this format and this World Cup has really shown us that honestly you can't take any team lightly. Ireland showed that against England. We've seen enough games in this competition.
"I think the fact that it is already such a short format. 20 overs is such a short format of the game. The margins of victory and defeat sometimes even if they're 12 runs, 15 runs, it's actually just two hits. It's two hits one way or the other, and actually that's the game. So it is already a shortened sort of rushed, noisy format, but it's very difficult to sometimes say who's a clear favourite in some of these games," he said.
Watch Video: Rahul Dravid responds to Shakib Al Hasan's comments ahead of IND vs BAN
"On top of that, I think these conditions. I think these conditions have actually leveled the playing field to a large extent because the boundaries are certainly bigger, and some of those big hits which you sometimes expect in the subcontinent to just go for six and you just know that I'll be able to make up those runs later on, it's not happening that easily. People are getting out.
I think it's really been a fantastic tournament from that perspective. Apart from the weather, I think it's been a terrific tournament in terms of just the nature of the games. No, we certainly don't take Bangladesh lightly. Our preparation, our planning will be as meticulous as it was against South Africa at Perth. No different," he added.
