DHAKA: Former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly said “India should not take Bangladesh lightly, although on paper and just by statistics India are a far better side than Bangladesh.”

He made this advice for his national team at an article on the match between India and Bangladesh published on a cricket news website on Wednesday.

Ganguly also pointed out big ground at the Melbourne Cricket Ground may a factor for Bangladesh to win the match.

Full Article of Sourav Ganguly

India play Bangladesh tomorrow (Thursday) in the second quarter-final of this World Cup and a lot of people might say that India are 'lucky' to have Bangladesh in the quarters. I would rather go the extra mile and say that India have earned their right to play Bangladesh in the quarter-finals, especially with the way they have played in the group stages. Six games out of six and they have got past every side convincingly, and they deserve to play Bangladesh in the quarter-finals.

I'm not saying India will take Bangladesh lightly. In fact, India should not take Bangladesh lightly because at the end of the day, it's a game between two teams and anything can happen. Bangladesh surprised England and went right till the end against New Zealand where better captaincy could have forced a result in their favour. So India should not take them lightly, although on paper and just by statistics India are a far better side than Bangladesh.

A lot of people ask me how much chance do I give India and Bangladesh and my reply to that is 9:1, and I really mean that because it is a far superior side in all aspects of the game, not just in terms of ability. Man to man, the Indian batting is a far better one than Bangladesh, the bowling is far better but what will help India in their quarter-final match is the ability to raise their game in ICC competitions.

This team under MS Dhoni has won big quarter-finals, big semi-finals and big finals, not just in the World Cup but in the World T20 and the Champions Trophy. So they have done it three times in the last few years. That experience of the big game will stand out when India play Bangladesh, and conversely, Bangladesh will find out if playing in a quarter-final for the first time is an occasion too big for them.

There's a forecast for rain in Melbourne during the match, so if it is a 50-over game I think the difference between the two sides is a lot. But if the game gets curtailed because of rain, Bangladesh will have the best chance because the smaller the game, the lesser the difference between two sides, and that's where Bangladesh can compete.

For Bangladesh, the big ground at the MCG will be a problem against the Indians, who outbatted South Africa in their previous game at the venue. Bangladesh played well against New Zealand in Hamilton and at other smaller grounds, and how they stand up in the big MCG will be a challenge for them - the angles are different, the side boundaries are very big and they will have to play really well to beat India.

Source: Cricbuzz

BDST: 2101 HRS, MAR 18, 2015