Rahul Dravid astutely responds to Shakib's Bangladesh 'not here to win Cup' remark

Bangladesh cricket team captain Shakib Al Hasan made headlines for his comments about his team not being the favorites to win the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022. Shakib spoke to reports in the pre-match press conference ahead of the India vs Bangladesh, Group 2 Super 12 match, where he made the comments. Meanwhile, Indian head coach Rahul Dravid later appeared in the presser and put out a brilliant reply to the remark made by Shakib.

Dravid quashed all the talks about India being the favorite to win the contest against Bangladesh. It is pertinent to mention that Bangladesh have only won one match T20I match against India after 11 meetings overall. Keeping the win/loss record in mind, Shakib addressed the media personnel by saying, “We haven’t come here to win the World Cup, but India have. If we win tomorrow, it will be an upset victory. India are favourites tomorrow."

Rahul Dravid cites example of Ireland's win over England in T20 World Cup 2022

On being asked about the comments by Shakib on Tuesday, Dravid cited Ireland’s win over England and denied the claims about India being the favourites. "I think we respect them a lot. I think they're a very good team. I think this format and this World Cup has really shown us that honestly you can't take any team lightly. Ireland showed that against England. We've seen enough games in this competition,” he said.

At the same time, Dravid also mentioned that the margins of victory and defeat are minimal in the 20-over format of the game. "I think the fact that it is already such a short format. 20 overs is such a short format of the game. The margins of victory and defeat sometimes even if they're 12 runs, 15 runs, it's actually just two hits. It's two hits one way or the other, and actually that's the game. So it is already a shortened sort of rushed, noisy format, but it's very difficult to sometimes say who's a clear favourite in some of these games,” he told reporters.

'Terrific tournament in terms of just the nature of the games': Rahul Dravid

While India heads into the Bangladesh match after suffering a 5-wicket loss in their last game, Dravid said they won't take their neighbors lightly. "I think it's really been a fantastic tournament from that perspective. Apart from the weather, I think it's been a terrific tournament in terms of just the nature of the games. No, we certainly don't take Bangladesh lightly. Our preparation, our planning will be as meticulous as it was against South Africa at Perth. No different," he said. The India vs Bangladesh, T20 WC 2022 match will begin at 1:30 PM IST on Wednesday.