Bangladesh are hoping India's last World Cup defeat at their hands will be playing on their opponents' minds when the pair meet at this year's tournament, opening batsman Tamim Iqbal said on Wednesday.
India lost to Bangladesh in their World Cup opener at the 2007 edition in the West Indies and then failed to make it past the first round of the competition.
The two countries meet again in their opening match at Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Feb. 19 in a tournament they are co-hosting with Sri Lanka until April 2.
"It will always work in their mind that they lost to us in the opening game of the last World Cup," Tamim told reporters.
"So they will be under pressure, not us."
Tamim played a key role in Bangladesh's five-wicket win at Port of Spain with a blistering knock of 51 off 53 balls, which set the tone for Bangladesh in the tournament.
He has also had a few other good innings against India, including his test best 151 in Dhaka in 2010, which make him an obvious target of the Indian bowlers.
Not that Tamim is worried.
"If I can play like the way I play I have no reason to be afraid of any bowler in the world," he said.
He added they were not treating the India game any differently to their other matches in Group B, which also features England, Ireland, Netherlands, South Africa and West Indies.
"We have six matches in the group phase and we are planning the same way for every match," he said.
Tamim said he had improved his game significantly since the last World Cup.
"If I had two shots in 2007, now I have five shots," he said. "That's an improvement. It is not the end ... just a step forwards and I think I have a long way to go. Every day I am working on my weakness."
© Reuters
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