Nowadays, India's rivalry with Bangladesh in cricket seems to have become more intense than that with Pakistan and the upcoming semi-final between the two teams in the Champions Trophy on June 15 is expected to make things spicier.
Bangladesh posed themselves as a big challenge to India for the first time in the 2007 World Cup when they stunned their giant opponents by 5 wickets to facilitate their campaign. It was also in another March five years later that the Bangladeshis had beaten India on their home soil in Asia Cup, another big tournament.
The rivalry has snowballed since Bangladesh's stunning win in 2007 WC
The Indian fans were left distraught in this game in which their favourite Sachin Tendulkar had hit his hundredth international ton. A year before this, however, the Indians had thrashed the Bangladeshis in a World Cup game in Mirpur, after scoring a mammoth 370, thanks to Virender Sehwag's 175 and Virat Kohli's unbeaten 100. So, while India had avenged the 2007 WC defeat in the next edition, Bangladesh had shown they are no pygmies at home in March 2012. Thus, the rivalry snowballed.
But if it was only a cricketing rivalry so far, the controversial part was added in March 2015 in yet another ICC World Cup. Bangladesh had reached the quarterfinals of the tournament packing England off and were dreaming to make it even higher. But a 109-run thrashing from India in the quarters in Melbourne brought them down to the ground.
Bangladesh's loss in 2015 WC was too big a shock, even for their PM
And the pain of the defeat was exacerbated by some dubious umpiring decisions that had huge repercussions. While Mustafa Kamal, the then president of the ICC brought charges of anomaly against the international body itself and resigned as a fallout with the authorities, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina did not hide her displeasure, saying poor umpiring made Bangladesh lose the game.
It is understandable that the shock was too big for the Bangladeshis, including their prime minister, but though the setback was temporary, the rivalry became permanently fierce between India and Bangladesh thereafter.
Bangladesh avenged the defeat in a home series, 2-1
Still hurt by that WC loss, Bangladesh defeated India 2-1 in the three-game home series in 2015 they played after the big tournament. The entire country had indulged in mad celebrations to commemorate the victory which was seen as nothing less than a revenge of the World Cup defeat.
But Bangladesh has shown more off-field antics than wins on field
The next high moment in India-Bangladesh fixtures came in March 2016, in the Asia Cup which Bangladesh hosted. India defeated Bangladesh in the group stages but after both teams qualified for the finals, the 'tigers' were hell-bent to prove that they were the better side in front of their home crowd.
The atmosphere was so charged up that even a Bangladeshi fan posted a photoshopped image of Bangladeshi fast bowler Taskin Ahmed holding the severed head of the then Indian captain MS Dhoni ahead of the finals. This was not the first time that the Bangladeshi supporters had resorted to such off-the-ground targeting of the opponents.
During the 2015 series as well, a Bangladeshi newspaper had come up with a photo showing Indian batsmen with half-shaven heads and their sensational fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman holding the blade in his hand to signify how much the Indians struggled against the young bowler in that series. The 'Dhoni's severed head' photo drew criticism from the Indian fans though their anger was soothed by an easy 8-wicket win by Dhoni's men in the final. Bangladesh were left distraught, once again.
Musfiqur Rahim was elated when India lost to the Windies in 2016 T20 semis
It was yet another day in March, the month of Bangladesh's independence, that Dhoni's men pulled off a thrilling 1-run victory over their rivals in Bengaluru. Bangladesh's wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim was the man in focus this time. While chasing 146 against India, Rahim had hit two boundaries in the last over to make the equation two required from three balls and started celebrating.
But as Lady Luck had other plans, the visitors lost three wickets in all the remaining deliveries to lose the game by a solitary run. That the defeat was too much for Rahim to digest became clear when he could not hide his jubilation after India lost the semifinal to the West Indies, the eventual champions. Rahim tweeted saying India's loss was "happiness" and faced a huge backlash, deleting his post ultimately. He also issued an apologetic tweet later, saying he was "sorry" for using "harsh words".
Bangladesh have actually beaten India in a cricket match in June 2015, which was their series-winning game in the bilateral series and have lost five games to their opponents since then (one Test and three T20s besides the dead ODI game in that 2015 series). India also handed them a crushing 240-run defeat in a warm-up game in this Champions Trophy after bundling them out for a paltry 84.
Thus, in terms of cricket, Bangladesh have succeeded little against India in the recent past apart from the 2015 series while India have regularly beaten them in all forms of the game. But yet, Bangladesh's off-the-field antics have been so eye-catching that India-Bangladesh rivalry has emerged as a big one, in style if not substance.
Hopefully, Bangladesh will not overreact this time
For PM Narendra Modi who has been trying to improve relations with the neighbouring country for a variety of reasons – economic, geostrategic and security – we hope the pumped-up cricket rivalry and the Bangladeshi supporters' refusal to take things sportingly doesn't pose a far bigger threat to New Delhi's 'Good relation with neighbours' policy.
