India has more pressure than Bangladesh, says Mashrafe Mortaza

India will take on Bangladesh in the second semi-final of ICC Champions Trophy on Thursday. The match will be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham. The tension meter is bound to go as high as Everest when these two teams face each other, owing to the geographic locations of both the countries. But on paper, India is definitely the favorite to win the game.

But Bangladeshi skipper Mashrafe Mortaza feels that it is India who is handling the pressure. Bangladesh will play with a free mind, according to the speedster. Ahead of the all-or-nothing match, Mortaza was seen very calm and composed in front of the press. The confident 33-year old also said that Bangladesh is unstoppable if they play to their fullest potential.

“I think India has more pressure than us because the huge population is there and people love cricket in India a lot. Even in Bangladesh, there is expectation. At the end of the day it’s a cricket game, so whoever plays well they will win,” said the Jessore born player when asked about the pressure on his shoulders. “If you take it as a semi-final, the pressure is going to be very hard but if you think it’s just another match, the pressure will become a lot easier,” he further added.

When asked about the USP of Bangladesh, he said “I know that in our day we can do anything, to be honest. But things that — as I told, we are the team that is trying to improve ourselves a lot. We have tried to play at our best in every match. We don’t know what is going to be the result, but once you can play at your best, you know that you are going to play at your best, then things can change.”

“So even if we look at last matches, when Ross (Taylor) and (Kane) Williamson batted really well we came back strongly. Never give up on the ground, those sort of things are really helping us.”

Mortaza is not bothered about respect

Following the upsets they have caused in the vicinity of cricket, Bangladesh is getting respect from the cricket enthusiasts all over the world. But Mashrafe is not bothered about whether his team is getting respect from other nations or not.

“It depends from man to man who is respecting you or not. But as a team, we are trying to improve our cricket. As a team the last two, three years we are changing things a lot, especially into the dressing rooms and behaviour on the ground. So we are trying our best,” was his answer when asked about his feelings on the respect that the Tigers are receiving lately.