The very mention of Queen’s Park, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, brings back those sweet memories. It was here, in 1971, that India won that crucial decisive Test, resulting in their first-ever Test series victory against the mighty West Indies, then captained by none other than the legendary Garfield Sobers. Yours truly was the captain of the Indian side then.

Since then, India have won two more Tests, and two of the nine One-dayers played there.

Isn’t it a coincidence that India are opening their innings for the first time in the ninth World Cup against Bangladesh?

Bangladesh, I feel, are the senior-most among the minnows with lots of experience in international cricket. They take credit, and quite appropriately too, for beating Pakistan and Ireland in the 1999 World Cup. They have done that to Australia and India too. And just a few days back they belittled the marauding New Zealanders in the warm-up game. Mind you, the Black Caps had thrashed the Kangaroos before landing on the Caribbean islands for the World Cup.

In terms of international experience, it’s only Kenya who may come slightly close to Bangladesh.

In fact, we may be wrong in considering Bangladesh as ‘minnows’. The minnows’ woes are different from teams playing for ages at the international level. That is why some players are ridiculed for their potbellies, when one sees the others looking so athletic on the field. Just look at the way Australia and Sri Lanka thrashed and made mincemeat of Scotland and Bermuda.

... contd.