India out to settle the score against Bangladesh

Co-hosts stunned one of the favourites in 2007m but MS Dhoni hopes there will be no repeat.

Bangladesh cricketer Mahmudullah, left, jokes with captain Shakib Al Hasan during training yesterday.

One innings can be enough to reveal that a player is special.

During the last World Cup, Bangladesh played England on a very fast pitch in Barbados. Jimmy Anderson, Saj Mahmood and Andrew Flintoff all produced nasty deliveries as the top order were ripped apart.

At one stage, they were 65 for six. They got to 143 only because of Shakib Al Hasan's classy unbeaten 57. No one else crossed 15.

Earlier in the tournament, his patient 53 had been one of the cornerstones of the victory over India, the result that sent home one of the pre-tournament favourites within the first two weeks.

Shakib, who now leads the national side, said it is his favourite World Cup memory.

Today, in front of a capacity crowd at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur - hundreds of millions of others will be watching on television - India get an opportunity to atone for that defeat.

"Quite a few players are the same but we're in a better frame of mind right now," said MS Dhoni, India's captain, alluding to the dressing-room tensions that ruined the final days of Greg Chappell's tenure as India coach. "That squad lacked nothing, but we just know these conditions better."

The passionate Bangladeshi fans, out on the streets in force, creating bedlam with vuvuzelas big and small, have 16 giant screens to watch the action on, situated at venues such as Dhaka University.

There will also be such telecasts in each of the 64 districts as the home side hopes to ride to success on a wave of emotion.

Shakib, the son of a banker from the southern Magura district, was a football-lover who made the switch to the willow game shortly before joining the national sports institute.

Far from home and shy by nature, he got more than his share of bullying. Toughened by such experiences, he has always exuded composure and poise, and in his own way, he is as assured and confident a leader as is Dhoni.

"This is a great way to start the tournament," he said.

"It can't get any better than this, to have the home side play against one of the big teams."

The tournament's format means that a loss today would not mean disaster for either team, and Shakib tried his best to deflect some of the pressure on his side.

"We have to play six matches," he said.

"We're not thinking only about the India game."

A knee injury has deprived Bangladesh of Mashrafe Mortaza, the man of the match in that 2007 encounter, and the new-ball pairing of Shafiul Islam and Nazmul Hossain face the daunting prospect of taking on an India line-up where the top seven are all eminently capable of run-a-ball centuries.

Both teams would prefer to bowl first, given that dew is likely to be a factor late in the evening under lights, and India may drop either Shanthakumaran Sreesanth or Munaf Patel to accommodate Piyush Chawla, the leg spinner who staked his claim with four wickets in the warm-up match against Australia.

Suresh Raina, who led the team to Zimbabwe last May when Dhoni was rested, could also miss out, with Virat Kohli expected to bat at No 4.

The man Bangladesh may need to be most wary of, though, is someone who has spent most of his career in his half-brother's shadow.

Yusuf Pathan, son of a muezzin in Baroda, was once known as "Irfan's brother".

These days, after two coming-of-age knocks of breathtaking ferocity in South Africa, he is a terrifying prospect, especially on a ground like the Sher-e-Bangla that has short boundaries square of the wicket.

Pathan, like his teammates, will have to tackle expectations as much as the opposition. "Whether we win or lose, there's pressure," Dhoni said. "You tell me when there isn't."

As for Dhoni's counterpart, he is more than aware what victory today could mean to this country of 160 million. "Go to any street in Dhaka and you'll see the difference," Shakib said. "Even after midnight, people are coming to see the ground. The World Cup means so much to people here."