Karthik: India expects victory against Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik says that despite the progress made by Bangladesh in recent times the fans back in India expect their team to triumph.

Karthik opined that even a second string India team would be expected to get past the Tigers but they will not be taking their opponents lightly.

The keeper praised the tenacity of Bangladesh who progressed to the final with a dramatic win over hosts Sri Lanka on Friday.

Karthik said: “Let’s be fair to India as a cricketing nation – whether we play the second string or the first-string team it’s always the case.

“When we play Bangladesh and we win it’s like : ‘Ok, you’ve won against Bangladesh’. But if we lose it’s like: ‘Dude, you’ve lost to Bangladesh. What are you doing?’ I’m sure that’s going to be there.

“With Rohit, the first thing that he said was that although we have a few of our other players missing, we’re looking to play exactly the sort of cricket that we’ve played in the past one year.

“But especially in subcontinent conditions, Bangladesh are a very good team. They are known for their tenacity. They really try hard. They are team that achieved Test status not many years ago, and from there on they have propelled in all formats of the game and done well for themselves.”

Karthik says at this level anyone who plays for India needs to make sure they are on the top of their game as excuses will not be tolerated.

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He said: “When you play international cricket you’re used to a certain amount of crowd – that’s one of the things that spurs you on, and it has a massive effect on fielding.

“When the home team is not playing, the crowds are small and sometimes the motivation is not there.

“The second match that we played I thought we fielded the poorest, against Bangladesh. We dropped about five catches. We weren’t the usual Indian team that’s known for it’s fielding.

“The fielding coach was straightaway in our ears and pointing it out, saying that’s not happening irrespective of whether we have a crowd or not, whether the outfield is good or not.

“We’ve set a certain benchmark for ourselves and we need to keep hitting that benchmark every time we step on to that field.

“I think that message was taken loud and clear by the boys. I think we came back all guns blazing the next time we played Sri Lanka and in the next game against Bangladesh.”

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