India are confident they can avoid a World Cup upset when they take on underdogs Bangladesh in Pune on Thursday; watch the action, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 9am, first ball 9.30am
Thursday 19 October 2023 09:25, UK
India are confident they can avoid a World Cup upset after defending champions England and quietly-fancied South Africa had their tournaments waylaid by shock defeats.
Afghanistan stunned England in Delhi on Sunday before the Netherlands claimed their first win over a Test-playing nation at a 50-over World Cup by beating South Africa in Dharamshala on Tuesday.
Tournament hosts India have started their campaign with three fairly straightforward wins and next take on Bangladesh, who defeated Afghanistan but lost heavily against England and New Zealand.
Bangladesh will be underdogs in Pune on Thursday despite beating their neighbours in three of their last four ODIs, but India were not at full strength in any of those games and are not underestimating their next test.
"When you enter a World Cup, every team will pose you a challenge," India's bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said. "From our perspective, maybe any team I don't think we'll take anyone [lightly].
"Bangladesh or maybe Netherlands, I think we want to treat that game equally important. Every game for us is important, every opponent for us is important. We are not even looking at that side.
"What we want to focus on is what we are going to achieve in this game. We have our plans, if we execute our stuff, we will win. And that's the only thing that we are talking about."
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan is a doubt with a quad injury he picked up against New Zealand last time out but India have no such headaches and are not planning any squad rotation on Thursday.
"It's important to maintain this start," Mhambrey added. "As of now there is no discussion of rotation from our point of view."
Watch hosts India take on Bangladesh, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 9am, first ball 9.30am. Stream the Cricket World Cup and more top sport with NOW
