India wary of Bangladesh power in sub-continent

India’swicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik yesterday said Bangladesh arealways a tricky opposition and that his team would bring high intensityto the Twenty20 tri-series final between the two sides today.SkipperRohit Sharma’s team was the first to book its place in the final afterwinning three of its four games at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium.India hold a psychological edge going into the tournament decider, with a 7-0 record in T20s against lowly-ranked Bangladesh.ButKarthik insisted India would not take Bangladesh lightly after theShakib Al Hasan-led team stunned Sri Lanka, beating the hosts by twowickets on Friday to reach the final.“In sub-continent conditions, (Bangladesh) are a very good team,” Karthik told reporters.“Whenwe play Bangladesh, if we win, it’s like ‘Ok, you’ve won againstBangladesh’, but if we lose, it’s like: ‘Dude, you’ve lost toBangladesh. What are you doing?’”India went into the tournamentwithout top guns Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and lost theiropening match to Sri Lanka, but soon bounced back to win three straightgames.Karthik, a middle-order batsman who is mostly a second-choicewicketkeeper behind Dhoni, said the team has not lost focus in theabsence of big names.“The first thing (Sharma)... said was thatalthough we have a few of our other players missing, we’re looking toplay exactly the sort of cricket that we’ve played in the past one year.We’re looking to win every match,” Karthik said.India are third inthe world T20 rankings, with Pakistan at the top, while Bangladesh are10th below minnows Afghanistan.Meanwhile, Bangladesh skipper Shakib AlHasan said his side has put the ill-tempered encounter with Sri Lankabehind them and are fully focussed on the tri-series final against India“Thetwo cricket boards have (had) good relations for the last 10-15 years.Players have great relations too... We must move forward from this,”Shakib told reporters.Bangladesh, 10th in the world T20 rankings — below Afghanistan — have never beaten India in the shortest format of the sport. “Ifyou think about pressure, it is pressure. If you don’t think aboutpressure, it is not pressure,” said the star allrounder, who returned tolead Bangladesh in the last round-robin game after most of thetri-series due to injury.“I am sure everyone is relaxed, and if we can be like this until tomorrow’s match, it will be good for us.”Bangladeshhave never won a T20 tournament since they started playing the formatin 2006, but Shakib said he is confident his side will go into the finalwith a positive mindset.“If we think it is a big final againstIndia, then it is pressure. Rather, let’s think about a bat v ballcontest,” he said with a smile.