For the better part of the last decade, a Bangladesh-India cricket match has been a fiery contest, at least off the field.
On the field, India have dominated this rivalry, with 23 wins in 30 games across three formats since 2011.
But off the field, fans from both sides have been equally abusive towards each other on social media, some using clever insults while resorting to straight up abuse.
However, the ongoing One-Day International (ODI) series between the two sides has been starkly different in this regard.
The Indian team is touring Bangladesh for a bilateral series for the first time in seven years at a time when the FIFA World Cup fever is at its fever pitch in both India and Bangladesh.
Media attention and fan interest has been significantly low surrounding the series, despite India sending a star-studded team with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and many more.
Perhaps, the reduced media hype worked in favour of the hosts, as they pulled off a hard fought one-wicket victory over their Indian adversaries in the first ODI on Sunday, mainly thanks to Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s heroics with the bat.
The win has somewhat increased the interest surrounding the series, at least in Bangladesh, as the Tigers now have a golden opportunity to seal their second ever ODI series win over India on Wednesday.
The match will start at 12:00pm Bangladesh Standard Time at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.
The match will be televised live by T Sports and GTV.
In the first game, Bangladesh was seemingly cruising towards a victory, after reaching 128-4 inside 35 overs, chasing 187, before a batting collapse of epic proportions left Bangladesh on the precipice of a heartbreaking defeat.
The hosts lost their following five wickets for just eight runs and were teetering at 136-9, staring down the barrel of a defeat.
But a miraculous 10th wicket partnership between Miraz and Mustafizur Rahman took the Tigers to an improbable one-wicket win with 24 balls to spare.
Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo was happy that his charges got over the line against India, but said the match should’ve never gone down to the wire at the first place.
“I have been involved in some amazing games with Bangladesh. We have had some narrow wins and losses, but that was as close as they come.” Domingo said in the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
“It shouldn’t have been that tight. When we needed 59 runs with four wickets down, we were in a pretty good position. By far not the perfect performance. There’s lot of work still to be done. But, to be able to win from that situation, says a lot about the team’s character,” he added.
A win on Wednesday would mean a second straight ODI series win at home for Bangladesh over India.
In 2015, the last time these two sides played an ODI series in Bangladesh, the Tigers won the series 2-1.
If the home side can manage a win from the second or the third ODI, which will be played on Chattogram on 10 December, it would be the second ever instance of Bangladesh winning consecutive ODI series at home against a top side.
Earlier, they had done so against New Zealand, with series wins in 2010 and 2013.