India go into the quarter-final against their neighbours as favourites, but will certainly not take them lightly, not wanting to suffer the same fate as they did in the 2007 edition.
Defending champions India face a tough challenge in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in the form of a rejuvenated Bangladesh, who nearly surprised New Zealand, one of the tournament favourites, in a Pool A clash in Hamilton last Friday.
Bangladesh may have suffered a three-wicket defeat against the Kiwis, who finished unbeaten in their six group matches, but they will take encouragement from the fight they put up in the match.
They fought through some testing overs from pacers Trent Boult and Tim Southee in conditions that were perfect for the co-hosts before launching a counter-attack, led by Mahmudullah, who scored his second consecutive century in the tournament with 128 out of a competitive total of 288 for seven.
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It was the first time a team had completed their 50 overs’ quota against New Zealand.
When New Zealand batted, Bangladesh's tactic of opening with their spin bowlers paid off as captain Shakib Al Hasan captured the wickets of New Zealand's top batsmen, Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson, in the space of an over.
Martin Guptill (105) and Ross Taylor (56) responded with a third-wicket partnership of 131 and there was some vigorous hitting from Grant Elliott and Corey Anderson before Southee struck a six and a four to give New Zealand victory by three wickets with seven balls remaining.
In their previous match, Bangladesh had upset England to seal their place in the last eight. They finished fourth in Pool A behind New Zealand (12 points), Sri Lanka (8 points) and Australia (seven points), who still have one match still in hand against Scotland.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team is also brimming with confidence having registered convincing victories in their six matches so far. They beat pre-tournament favourites South Africa and arch-rivals Pakistan, and swept away the United Arab Emirates, Ireland and West Indies rather easily before finishing their group engagements with a tense win over Zimbabwe.
In the course of a few weeks India have turned from strugglers to one of the top contenders for the title.
The most heartening part of India's showing so far is the performance of their bowling attack, which bowled out the opposition in all of their outings at the World Cup. Mohammed Shami's extra pace was rewarded with 12 wickets in four matches, while off-spinners Ravichandran Ashwin used his guile well to pick 11 wickets at an economy rate of 3.89.
Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja also made vital contributions, claiming seven wickets each.
In fact, none of the Indian bowlers have gone over the five runs per over mark.
India's batting has taken care of itself, with Shikhar Dhawan roaring back to form, with 333 runs from five matches, including two centuries and a fifty already, while Virat Kohli quietly made his presence felt with 263 runs, at an average of 87.
All in all, India go into the quarter-final against their neighbours as favourites, but will certainly not take them too lightly, not wanting to suffer the same fate as they did in the 2007 edition.
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