Young Tigers against familiar foes first up

Bangladesh are set to begin their ICC Under-19 World Cup campaign today against familiar foes India in a match that is bringing back sweet memories from four years ago.

The Young Tigers will face India in a Group A match at the Manguang Oval in Bloemfontein, set to begin at 2:00pm Bangladesh time.

Almost four years back, in Potchefstroom, a city 324 kilometres away from Bloemfontein, the Akbar Ali-led Bangladesh team defeated India in a nail-biting final to lift their maiden world title at the U-19 level.

Although Bangladesh's title defence in the 2022 edition in the West Indies went poorly, as they finished eighth out of 16 teams while India went on to win their fifth title, the return to South Africa and the recent good performances are giving the Young Tigers the confidence to start the fresh campaign with a victory.

"We are focused on our next match against India, we want to go match by match in the World Cup," Bangladesh skipper Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby said yesterday in a video message.

The Rabby-led team arrived in South Africa with a lot of momentum, having won the ACC U-19 Asia Cup title in Dubai last month -- Bangladesh's maiden triumph in the competition.

Before crushing the United Arab Emirates by 195 runs in the final to be crowned undefeated champions, they had defeated India by four wickets in the semifinal.

Bangladesh lost some of the momentum with a 112-run defeat to Sri Lanka in their first warm-up game on January 14 before coming up with a five-wicket victory over their Australian counterparts in their second and final warm-up game on Wednesday.

Even though Bangladesh's record against India in Youth ODIs isn't anything to write home about, with just five wins in 26 matches, the two teams have been involved in fiery encounters in recent years, where tempers have flared and some unfortunate incidents have occurred.

However, Bangladesh captain Rabby downplayed the tensions between the teams and said they will approach it like any other game.

"We will play it like a normal game. We have had good preparation for the tournament. We have had great input from our coach," Rabby was quoted by the ICC after the captain's photo session on Tuesday.

The tournament, which was originally supposed to be held in Sri Lanka but got shifted to South Africa after the island nation received a ban from the ICC, began yesterday with Ireland defeating the USA by seven wickets.