Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has lit the fire ahead of the India-Bangladesh Champions Trophy semifinal on Thursday. In his column published in the Times of India on Wednesday, Boycott wrote that India should be wary of losing to their neighbours at Edgbaston, considering the possible repercussions back home.
“Honestly, if India don’t beat Bangladesh, they shouldn’t go home for a while,” Boycott wrote. “They should just have a holiday in Europe and wait until everything calms down, because they won’t be allowed back in the country.”
Bangladesh have done well to reach the semifinals, beating New Zealand on the way. However, “even though Bangladesh have a few good players, I don’t see them posing a threat to India, purely on merit,” he added.
According to Boycott, England, who play the first semifinal against Pakistan on Wednesday, are the “strongest side in this competition”, with India being the “only side who can stop them now”. Boycott expects England and India to reach the final on Sunday, saying that the hosts “ought to be able to see off their unpredictable semifinal opponents”.
He added, “Pakistan have always been volatile and, while their fans can’t be too happy about that, for the rest of us that has meant several years of edge-of-the-seat entertainment. By contrast, England have appeared calm, ruth lessly professional, and hard to beat.”
The current England team “is a far cry from the appalling outfit” that went to Australia last year for the 2015 World Cup, Boycott said. Under Andrew Strauss, who took over as director of cricket following England’s group-stage exit in the World Cup, “the team embarked on a corrective course, driven by a deliberate policy by the board to pick ODI specialists even if that meant leaving out proven hands such as Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad,” Boycott wrote.