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BD hope to force India’s mistakes: Coach

September 24, 2025 00:00:00


Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons said they hope to force mistakes on India's part ahead of their Asia Cup match against India.

The match begins at 8 PM (Bangladesh Time) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium today (Wednesday) which will be telecasted live on T-sports and Nagorik TV, reports BSS.

"Every team has the ability to beat India. It's not about what India have done before. It's about what happens on Wednesday," Simmons said.

"It's what happens during that three-and-a-half-hour period, and we will try to play as best as we can and hope to force mistakes in India's armory. That's the way we win games," he added.

Bangladesh moved to the Super Four as Group B runners-up by beating Hong Kong and Afghanistan. While they could not live up to the expectation entirely initially, they came up as a different team in the Super Four and put up a dominating performance to beat Sri Lanka by four wickets, taking a revenge of their defeat in the first round.

Bangladesh's bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to 168-7 on a placid deck in the game and the batters then showed sustained aggression to beat the Lions with ease, albeit a last over drama that saw them lost two wickets and ensured the victory in the penultimate delivery.

However, a victory against India will help them take a massive stride to the final, even if it fails to guarantee them the place firmly.

Bangladesh will be ahead of India in the bowling sector, which proved to be best in the tournament, so far.

Moreover, if the pitch play slows even a little -- which is expected given the amount of games Dubai, so far, hosted in this week -- Bangladesh's chance to win will be doubled.

A victory in the toss will give them further edge. Generally the team, batting second, wins the game under the lights in Dubai and Bangladesh captain Litton Das, so far, has proved to be lucky in winning the coin toss.

India, however, won all four matches, including twice against archrivals Pakistan in the tournament. But the stats were not enough to convince.

India of late made Pakistan contest one sided and held a psychological edge over the old foes, but Bangladesh will be first full ICC nation apart from Pakistan whom India will meet for the first time in the tournament.

And pundits believe given the current performance, Bangladesh are far better than Pakistan at this moment.

In the Asia Cup, the two teams met 15 times with Bangladesh, winning just two and losing 13. India won all two matches in the T20 version of Asia Cup in 2016.

Bangladesh came into the tournament, high on confidence following their three straight series victory against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Ahead of India clash, captain Litton Das though sustained an injury, he looked okay to lead the side.

Litton so far proved his tactical nous in the tournament better than his next counterpart Suryakumar Yadav, which is another area that gives Bangladesh further boost.

Bangladesh met India in the T20 format 17 times, but won just one in 2019 in Delhi. India won the rest of the 16 matches but Simmons was not concerned by the record, saying that tomorrow's match will be a fresh game.


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