Every team has ability to beat India, it's about what happens on day: B'desh coach Simmons

Dubai, Sep 23 (PTI) Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons doesn't believe that India is an unbeatable team and come Wednesday when his 'Tigers' take on the reigning world champions in an Asia Cup Super 4 encounter, it won't matter what Suryakumar Yadav and his men have achieved in the past four games.

Bangladesh will come into the match after having beaten Sri Lanka in an earlier Super 4s game, something that has boosted their confidence enormously considering T20Is aren't their 'Go-To' format.

Asked if this Indian team can be defeated, Simmons, who, in his playing days, represented a strong West Indies side in the late 1980s to late '90s, replied: "Every team has the ability to beat India." "The game is played on the day. It's not what India has done before. It's what happens on Wednesday. It's what happens during that three and a half hour period. We will try to play as best as we can and hope to find chinks in India's armoury. That's the way we win games." The 62-year-old Simmons understands the surround sound around any game involving India and wants his wards to soak in that electric atmosphere, stay in the moment, and enjoy the challenge to the fullest.

"Every game, especially games involving India, have a hype because they're the number one T20 team in the world. There must be a hype. We're just going to ride on the hype.

"We're going to enjoy the moment and enjoy the game." Simmons believes that the Dubai International Cricket Stadium (DICS) track is really good for batting and toss won't be a huge factor going into the match.

"I didn't see much of a difference in the wicket over the 40 overs. I think it's some of the best wickets I've seen here for a while. I think last night (India vs Pakistan) it was the same.

"The wicket was really good to bat. Bowlers had to bowl properly. I don't think the toss has that much of an effect." The September heat in Dubai and Abu Dhabi is sapping and playing back-to-back T20 games in this weather can be a challenge physically, admitted Simmons.

"It is extremely difficult to play back-to-back T20 matches, back-to-back ODIs. So it's not a nice thing but again we are prepared, we have trained really hard.

"I think the guys are fit enough to handle the back-to-back game. But it is not a fair thing for any team to have to play back-to-back T20s. It's a lot more difficult than people seem to think," said the coach, who played 26 Tests and 143 ODIs for the West Indies during his playing days.

Talking about senior players in the squad, the coach couldn't stop praising Mustafizur Rahman, a seasoned left-arm seamer, for taking more initiative in team meetings and guiding the juniors in the team.

"He's been the main bowler. And he's carrying that mantle of being the senior bowler on the team. And even in meetings and everything, he's really stepping up. So it's great to see him performing out there." "Look, I am one who tries to control my emotions as much as possible. We are not here to win a game against Sri Lanka. We are here to win the tournament...then I can release my emotions. But I have to keep everybody grounded in the dressing room.

T20 cricket is increasingly becoming data driven and the analysts in every squad do a risk vs reward analysis while picking up the right combination. Simmons had a different take to this theory of having more risk-takers in the team.

"I don't know about risk in T20 format. Since I've been here, we've tried to make sure that this is the way we want to play. And we've picked the correct players to play that way. And so far, it's benefitted us. It's going well," he asserted.

Bangladesh is an emotional country when it comes to cricket and Simmons was asked a pertinent question about how one handles the incessant criticism.

"...as long as I'm confident and my staff and myself, including the captain, are confident in what we're doing and how we're guiding the team, then criticism is like water off a duck's back," he said. PTI KHS PM KHS PM PM