Ahead of the Asia Cup 2025 `Super Four` match against Team India, Bangladesh`s head coach Phil Simmons has made a bold statement, stating that every team has the ability to defeat India.
He also said that the `Bengal Tigers` will try to showcase their best game on the field when they clash against the “Men in Blue”.
“Every team has the ability to beat India. The game is played on the day. It`s not what India has done before. It`s what happens on Wednesday. It`s what happens during that three and a half hour period. We will try to play as best as we can and hope to find chinks in India`s armoury. That`s the way we win games,” said Simmons.
Team India will lock horns against Bangladesh on Wednesday, September 24, at the Dubai International Stadium.
Team India’s matches have always generated hype, especially after the team became the top-ranked side in the shortest format of the game.
“Every game, especially games involving India, have a hype because they`re the number one T20 team in the world. There must be a hype. We`re just going to ride on the hype,” said Simmons.
Meanwhile, after concluding the game against India on Wednesday, the “Bengal Tigers” will take on Pakistan the very next day at the same venue.
Speaking about the back-to-back matches, Simmons said that his players are fit enough to feature in consecutive games.
“I think the guys are fit enough to handle the back-to-back game. But it is not a fair thing for any team to have to play back-to-back T20s. It`s a lot more difficult than people seem to think,” said the 62-year-old former cricketer, who has played 26 Test matches and 143 ODI games for the West Indies.
Asia Cup 2025 `Super Four`, IND vs BAN: Full Squads
India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.
Bangladesh: Litton Das (c), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Saif Hassan, Tawhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali Anik, Shamim Hossain, Quazi Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Shaif Uddin.
(With PTI Inputs)