Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan insists they have nothing to fear when they tackle India for a place in the World Cup semi-finals after giving in-form New Zealand a huge scare today.
The Tigers went down fighting by three wickets at Seddon Park in their last Pool A match to finish in fourth place in the group and set up a quarter-final showdown with Pool B winners and defending champions India in front of 90,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 19.
"Obviously we can take this confidence ahead. The way we played I think it's very good and that will help us in the quarter-final immensely," said Hasan, who led Bangladesh in the absence of injured captain Mashrafe Mortaza.
"We haven't thought about the quarter-final yet but it's going to be exciting and there will be a lot of fans cheering for them. So we will be ready as this will be our first ever quarter-final."
He added: "To be honest, our first target was to qualify for the quarter-finals. Now it's a one-off game and if we play well on the day anything can happen, so we will prepare ourselves as well as we can and I think boys will be up for it."
Hasan said it was disappointing to lose against New Zealand, who now have six wins in six games, in a match in which the co-hosts were tested to the hilt as they made a meal of chasing down a 289-run target.
Mohammad Mahmudullah hit his second successive hundred with a brilliant knock of 128 not out to guide Bangladesh to 288-7 as New Zealand failed for the first time in six games to bowl out their opponents.
