India vs Bangla: A growing rivalry?

BIRMINGHAM: At least until Thursday evening, the west midlands will belong to the Tigers. Two days before the semifinal, this place is being swamped by an army of red and green hungry for tickets, accommodation and a chance to put India down. It's India versus Bangladesh, and Birmingham better brace for some chaos.
Anything can, and usually does happen in this nascent but bitter sporting rivalry: tempers run high, prime ministers complain about umpiring, ICC presidents resign, players elbow each other and twitter wars rage.In between, Bangladesh can also lose three wickets in three balls, but right now you better have an escape route ready at Edgbaston before you go about mentioning that -those rooting for India haven't landed here yet! Of course they will in larger numbers by Friday, but funnily enough the average Indian cricket fan doesn't even want to consider this match-up a 'rivalry'. It suits them to think any notion of a 'contest' in an India-Bangladesh game is purely a figment of the Bangladeshi mind.
That illusion has been shattered in recent times. Bangladesh beat India in an ODI home series in 2015, and lost by one run in a World T20 game last year. The 2015 World Cup quarterfinal nearly led to a diplomatic powwow after some contentious decisions went India's way.
Bangladesh are incensed that in the eyes of the cricketing world, they haven't convincingly shaken off the 'minnows' tag yet, in spite of reaching the final of the Asia Cup, beating India and South Africa twice each at home in ODIs, and Sri Lanka and Pakistan once each at home in T20s since June 2015.They are also angry with themselves for exhibiting a nasty tendency to self-destruct in pressure situations. They have a lot to fight for against India, and invariably, in recent times, have put up a scrappy fight.
In this Champions Trophy they are riding into the semis of an ICC event for the first time, on the back of a lucky rain break against Australia and a superlative batting performance against New Zealand which served as exhibition of their enormous, world-beating potential.
Bangladesh, then, are no pushovers, and India must grudgingly acknowledge this fact when they sit down to make their semifinal plans.
The rise of the acrimonius, social media-driven Indo-Bangla cricket rivalry has coincided with a relative decline of drama in India-Pakistan games. With India playing Pakistan too infrequently for any reasonable continuity, along with Pakistan's steep decline as a cricketing powerhouse, Bangladesh have occasionally risen to fill the 'local-rivalry' void.
When they lose, their fans scream conspiracy. If Bangladesh win, their players have usually produced a larger-than-life performance, and are dutifully feted as national heroes. It's a karmic cycle Indian crick et has seen before and can empathize with. Bangladesh began inflicting the hurt way back in 2007, when they sent Rahul Dravid's star-studded India scurrying out of the World Cup in the Caribbean. That created the notion of enmity, though that defeat had nearly been forgotten when the 2015 World Cup quarterfinal happened.
Rohit Sharma, on 90, spooned a short-pitched one straight to the fielder, but umpire Ian Gould ruled that it was above waist high and gave not out. Sharma scored a century and during the steep chase, Mahmudullah was given out caught at the boundary when it seemed Shikhar Dhawan had touched the ropes.
Bangladesh lost, and Dhaka University students promptly took out a protest march. ICC president Mustafa Kamal resigned saying the outcome had been "pre-arranged" in favour of India. The Bangladesh PM said umpiring error cost the team.
The last encounter between the two, in the World T20, saw Bangladesh snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as only they can, and Mushfiqur Rahim's subsequent tweet added to the rancour after India lost to the West Indies. Ugly memes of Taskin Ahmed holding Dhoni's severed head or Mustafizur's 'cutters' partly shaving off Indian cricketers' heads have added to the hype machine, putting more pressure on Bangladesh to hold their own in such clashes. "We are not trying to think about India," said Bangladesh's Sri Lankan coach Chandika Hathurusingha, before pausing and adding: "Not too much. We are relaxed. This is a journey. The focus is on doing well overseas. India are still favourites, but if we play according to potential we can give the opposition a run for their money."