Bangladesh are no pushovers

India hold an impressive 318 record in 40 OneDay Internationals against but it was against the latter that they experienced their most painful World Cup outingOne of the overwhelming favourites for the 2007 title in the Caribbean Rahul Dravidrsquos men were consigned to a fivewicket defeat by a young inspired Bangladesh bunch led by the seasoned Habibul Bashar in their tournament openerWorld Cup 2007 disasterAt Port of Spain in Trinidad Indiarsquos famed batting lineupmdashVirender Sehwag Sourav Ganguly Sachin Tendulkar Dravid himself Yuvraj Singh Mahendra Singh Dhonimdashwas sent packing for 191 with Mashrafe Mortaza Abdur Razzak and Mohammad Rafique sharing all ten wicketsTamim Iqbal Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan all struck halfcenturies as Bangladesh cruised to a comfortable fivewicket victory Indiarsquos cup of woe was full to the brim when they also lost to Sri Lanka in their final match in the fourteam Group B thus crashing out at the first time of asking in their darkest World Cup hour since failing to win a single game in the 1979 edition in EnglandIndia have won each of the next three World Cup clashes between the sides but the bitter aftertaste of the 2007 catastrophe lingers That Mushfiqur and Shakib are still flying the Bangladesh flag canrsquot make it any easier for Dravid the current Indian head coachHaving got off to a perfect start in this World Cup India will be entitled to believe they will take another step towards purging that terrible memory when the teams lock horns on Thursday at the World Cup debut of the MCA Stadium in Gahunje Bangladesh have lost two of their three matches to date and are fretting over the quadricep injury picked up by Shakib in the defeat at the hands of New Zealand in their last game As such they might appear ripe for the picking but India know better than to take their next opponents for grantedAlso Read Spectators face trying times during IndoPak clash at ArsquobadBangladesh have won three of the last four ODIs between the teams including the Asia Cup clash in Colombo last month While that canrsquot amount to much beyond feelgood India are aware of how feisty Bangladesh can be especially if their spinners get on a rollIndia more powerfulMan for man India are the more powerful outfit with matchwinners galore through their ranks and are high on confidence after their sevenwicket rout of Pakistan in Ahmedabad on Saturday nightThat game marked Shubman Gillrsquos maiden World Cup appearance and his first hit of the tournament after missing the first two matches due to dengue Gill looked none the worse for the illness and played a few handsome strokes before falling for 16 he will look at Thursday as an opportunity to work his way back among the runs because for India to go deep in the tournament they will need the classy opener to be firing on all cylinders