Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza has said that his team will take the semi-final clash against India like any other match and there won't be any added pressure on his team when they play the defending champions at Edgbaston in Thursday."There is always big hype surrounding the semi-final matches but we have to stick to our game".
India came into the tournament as one of the favourites and they justified that tag in their opening game as they beat Pakistan by 124 runs.
Especially after their inspirational "come from behind" victory against New Zealand that paved the way for their semi-final berth. Men in Blue started their campaign with victory over Pakistan but they lost their 2nd match against Sri Lanka.
Captain Kohli has made valuable contributions with the bat and helped his team's cause in chasing down tricky totals.
The Tigers have been playing fearless cricket for the last couple of years and the way they have adjusted to the English conditions in this tournament so far showed their ability to adapt to alien conditions like other big teams. The last competitive game was probably the 2007 World T20 in South Africa which was 10 years ago. Everyone bowled well in that game (against Bangladesh). While skipper Mashrafe Mortaza and Mustafizur Rahman have led their attack well in the recent past, young seamers in Taskin Ahmed and Rubel Hossain can generate brisk pace to cartwheel a few stumps. One of the Bangladesh fans shows disregard to our Indian flag on social media by draping our national flag on the dog and theirs on the tiger ahead of ICC Champions Trophy.
"My cutters were not as effective here as in our home soil".
"It's a credit to their set-up and the kind of players they have now who are taking more responsibility", said Kohli, who rose Wednesday to No. 1 in the ODI batting rankings.
Kohli taking nothing for granted against 'dangerous' Bangladesh
After the game, Bangladesh accused the authorities of siding up with India , who then were the defending world champions. Two teams from the subcontinent- India and Bangladesh lock horns in the semi-finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy .
On the other hand, Bangladesh are no longers minnows of worldwide cricket.
India is set to use an unchanged team for the Champions Trophy semifinal match against Bangladesh after what captain Virat Kohli called a "complete performance" in the winner-take-all group game against South Africa.
Bangladesh's place in the last four was then confirmed when England beat Australia at Edgbaston.
The song is the extremely popular Bengali rendition "Amra Korbo Joy" of Pete Seeger's iconic "We Shall Overcome".
"Guys who are coming into the team are much fitter with better knowledge of eating habits, they are learning quickly".
Luck also played a role with Bangladesh heading to nearly certain defeat against Australia until rain washed out the match. If cricket is religion in India, it's beyond that in Bangladesh. After the 2015 World Cup quarter-final, we have played three T20Is and three ODIs against them and we have forgotten it. "They showed a lot of composure and patience, and that is always a sign of a side that is mature now, that knows how to win matches from hard situations".
Q. Is this the biggest cricket match of Bangladesh's history?
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