There was a big disappointment on the very first day of the T20 World Cup. Bangladesh suffered a 6-run defeat at the hands of Scotland in the Qualifier Group B match. After this result, the question is arising whether Bangladesh deliberately lost in this match? Did Bangladesh lose this match due to the fear of Team India?
The T20 World Cup has started with the qualifier matches. In the qualifying round, the 8 teams numbered 4-4 are divided into two different groups (Group A and Group B). The top-2 teams from both groups will enter the Super-12. Super-12 is the second round of this world cup. From these 8 teams, India and Pakistan have already created their space into it.
Bangladesh is in Group B of the qualifying round. In this, the number-1 team will go to Group-2 of Super-12. Teams from India, Pakistan, New Zealand, and Afghanistan are in this group. Apart from Super-12 in the World Cup, semi-finals and final matches are to be played in UAE. Bangladesh's challenge may be weak in front of Asian teams on the pitches of UAE.
To avoid such a situation, Bangladesh will have to avoid topping its group in the qualifying rounds. The loss against Scotland has made it very likely that Bangladesh may no longer top their group.
Although it would not be correct to say that Bangladesh lost deliberately, but if it has done so to avoid teams like India and Pakistan, then this bet may also backfire. Oman is also present in Bangladesh's group in the qualifying round. Oman beat Papua New Guinea by 10 wickets in their first match in a one-sided way. If Oman's team beats Bangladesh, then it will be difficult for Bangladesh to make it to the Super-12 round.
A similar allegation was made against the New Zealand team in the 1992 World Cup. In that World Cup, the New Zealand team had won the first seven league matches consecutively. They played against Pakistan in the last league match. New Zealand lost to Pakistan in the last league match. However, Pakistan defeated him again in the semi-finals and eventually became the champion of that World Cup.
The 2007 T20 World Cup will definitely be in your mind; India became the champion then. India had a match against South Africa in that World Cup. If India's team would have lost that match, then it was in danger of being out of the race to win the title. At the same time, if the South African team had won that match, it could have faced Australia in the semi-finals.
Australia also won the ODI World Cup that year and it is believed that South Africa wanted to avoid playing them in the semi-finals. The result was that India defeated South Africa by such a huge margin that South Africa was out of the tournament itself.
