Rome was not built in a day. The same can be said about the Bangladesh cricket team’s recent successes. The Tigers in the last 15 months or so have been living in dreamland. They won several series against the established orders and made a mark in the international cricket arena.
On the way, the cricket-mad Bangladesh fans have earned a lot of respect from all around the globe for the level of support they put for their team. The possessiveness of these fans is unmatchable.
This correspondent has been rather unfortunate. Bangladesh for only the second time in history have gone through to the final of a major event and played against India in Mirpur in the Asia Cup Twenty20. The travel plan had backfired and has brought this writer along with a few others from Bangladesh around two days before the Tigers reached Dharamsala for the ICC World T20.
But this has also opened up a great opportunity to feel the vibe from the other side of the boundary. The Bangladesh-India cricket rivalry has been on the rise since 2007 when the Tigers had defeated their neighbours to throw them out of the World Cup. The animosity had hit the top gear following a couple of controversies in the 2015 World Cup. Bangladesh fans believe because of some controversial decisions by the on-field umpire, the Tigers’ dreams of defeating India and moving to the semi-final of the tournament were shattered.
Since then, on every occasion the two teams met, the Bangladesh fans had great satisfaction considering India as their arch-rival.
Flying into India on the day when the two sides met in the Asia Cup final in Dhaka, there was a certain vibe of the game here too. But what came in as a surprise was the respect the Indians had showed to the Tigers.
The immigration officer at the Kolkata airport literally jumped off his chair when he saw the passports and learned that the journalists belong to Bangladesh and are in his country to cover the World T20.
“What are you doing here [Saturday]? You have a big game in Dhaka?” the immigration officer queried.
Following a few conversations, the officer surprisingly said, “I want Bangladesh to win. They have played really well to put off Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the tournament. They are working hard and winning the Asia Cup will be a great reward.” A similar thing had happened in the Kolkata-based hotel where the journalists had to pass the night in order to catch the early morning flight to Dharamsala via Delhi but the best was yet to come.
One getting into Dharamsala city coming from the Kangra airport will have to come across a police check-post. A serious looking officer with his subordinates searched all the vehicles passing by. They were about to do the same but upon learning that the six people in the Toyota car are from Bangladesh and are related to cricket, the police duty had vanished.
“Your team doing really great. They are fantastic. They are playing India and I want them to do well but India should end winning,” said the police officer.
“They (Bangladesh team) are coming [today]. Good, we will be able to see some matches. The venue in Dharamsala is fantastic. We (India) were also a small team. But we won the World Cup in [1983] and things started changing. I can see that change in Bangladesh too,” the gentleman in his 40s added.
There have been at least half a dozen more individuals met on the day with the same vibe towards Bangladesh. The experience might involve only a few individuals but it made one thing very clear; the supporters from the other side of the border are also excited with the Bangladesh-India rivalry.
Probably no other experience could have been more overwhelming to start around a month-long tour.