India vs BanglaDesh

While Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday insisted his team will go into Saturday’s World Cup opener against Bangladesh here at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium without the baggage of their humiliating loss in 2007, his Bangladeshi counterpart Shakib Al Hasan sounded confident of his squad’s show in the match.

The high-profile Indians suffered a five-wicket defeat at the hands of Bangladesh in their first match of the previous edition in the Caribbean, leading to the team’s first-round exit.

But Dhoni, preparing for the day-night clash, said the loss four years ago had not even crossed his mind in the past few years.

“Frankly, I have never thought about it, but we obviously don’t want a repeat,” said Dhoni, who was part of the 2007 squad which was led by Rahul Dravid and coached by Australian Greg Chappell.

Dhoni claimed that his team was in a better frame of mind going into the tournament, and insisted there was no additional pressure on the boys playing in the sub-continent.

“Being a co-host will always bring a lot of expectations,” the wicketkeeper-batsman stated. “But we do not get bogged down by expectations.

“The important thing is to do the process right. We always look to put more emphasis on the process, rather than on winning, and this is what has made us a successful team.” India are the number one Test team in the International Cricket Council’s official rankings, and are placed second behind Australia in one-day cricket.

India have won 20 of their 22 one-day matches against the Tigers, but Dhoni refused to take another victory for granted.

“Bangladesh is a good side with three very good left-arm spinners,” he remarked. “They rely a lot on spinners, especially in the sub-continent where slow bowlers get a lot of help.”India go into the Cup opener on the back of two convincing morale-boosting wins over Australia and New Zealand in practice matches this week.

“The tournament already started for us with those practice matches. We have picked up the intensity and now look forward to our next game,” he said.

“Like any other team, we want to begin our campaign on a winning note.” The Indians rely mainly on their powerful batting, led by world record holder Sachin Tendulkar, to pile up a big total Match starts at 1:30pm and bat the other side out of a match.