5 things that have fuelled the India-Bangladesh rivalry

India closed yet another successful chapter in their ongoing rivalry with neighbours Bangladesh by sealing a huge 8-wicket win in the final of the Asia Cup. The Bangladeshi team has managed to shed their former tag of 'minnows' in world cricket with some great performances in the ODI format in recent years.During their journey to becoming a formidable cricketing nation, they have got the better of Team India on quite a few occasions, primarily in 50-over cricket. In the process, Bangladesh have gone on to forge a high-octane rivalry against an extremely powerful Indian cricket team.This rivalry has only gained more prominence with every loss that India has suffered at the hands of the Tigers. Here are 5 important things which have fuelled theirrivalry:

#1 2007 ICC World Cup encounter

India's most disastrous performance at an ICC event in recent years came during the 2007 World Cup. The lowest point of their shoddy campaign was their unprecedented loss at the hands of then minnows Bangladesh.

The loss had a drastic impact on Team India's chances to progress in the tournament and they crashed out in the group stage itself. The manner in which a powerful Indian team, featuring the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Yuvraj, Sehwag and Zaheer among others, capitulated to a comparatively weaker Bangladesh side was shameful, to say the least.

The boisterous celebrations of the Bangladeshis only added fuel to the fire and gave birth to a brand new rivalry in world cricket.

#2 Lack of India-Pakistan matches

The Indo-Pak rivalry is known to be the greatest in Asian cricket and only second to the Australia-England rivalry in world cricket. However, it has been dampened to a great extent by the largely reduced number of matches between the two sides.

India's rivalry against Bangladesh seems to have thrived from this situation and is slowly starting to rise in importance. There has been much more cricket among the two teams compared to the Indian team's rare bouts with the Pakistanis.

With the results of India-Bangladesh encounters being more even these days, the rivalry between the neighbouring nations is slowly gathering steam. Things are only looking worse for the iconic India-Pakistan rivalry due to political issues and it may be time for a fresher one to take its place, at least for now.

#3 The no-ball incident from the 2015 World Cup

The 2015 World Cup quarter-final between India and Bangladesh was marred by a controversy surrounding a dubious no-ball decision by umpire Aleem Dar. Rohit Sharma, who was batting on 90 at the time, skied a full toss from Rubel Hossain in the 40th over of the Indian innings.

As the Bangladeshi players gathered around in celebration, they received a major shock when the Pakistani umpire signalled it a no-ball and Rohit batted on. Replays suggested that it was a 50-50 decision and the delivery could well have been legitimate.

The decision went on to cost Bangladesh 47 more runs as the prolific Indian batsman scored a majestic 137 which propelled India to a total of 302. Post the Indian team's huge 109-run victory, there was a huge furore in Bangladesh over the seemingly incorrect no-ball call.

This particular incident has further spiced up the rivalry between India and Bangladesh as the latter feel that their powerful neighbours got away with it.

#4 India losing an ODI series against Bangladesh in 2015

The Indian team produced perhaps their worst performance in ODI cricket in recent times as they lost a 3-match series against Bangladesh 2-1 in the year 2015. The worst part about the loss was that they conceded the series in the first 2 ODIs.

India were done in by a dominant Bangladeshi team, who had already whitewashed Pakistan at home in the previous series. Team India received a lot of flak from all quarters for their dismal performance, despite fielding a nearly full-strength side.

Bangladesh's fabled triumph has played a major part in bridging the gulf in class between the two nations. As such, their rivalry has been fuelled further as the Bangladeshi cricketers and fans alike now believe that their team can defeat the Indians more often.

India, on the other hand, are trying to use every possible occasion in order to prove that their newest arch-rivals have not yet got their number.

#5 Fans from both sides getting over enthusiastic

Both Bangladeshi and Indian cricket fans have also contributed immensely to the heated rivalry between the two countries. Social media is being used as a battleground by the fans as they try to shame each other at every opportunity that they get.

Apart from engaging in verbal altercations on social media platforms, there are also a number of morphed images that Indo-Bangla cricket fanatics are creating to mock their rival team. The most recent one saw Taskin Ahmed roaring as he holds the severed head of Indian skipper MS Dhoni.

In response to it, an Indian fan has seemingly posted a counter image which shows exactly the opposite. The extreme and biased enthusiasm being portrayed by fans from the two nations has led to the rivalry becoming more intense with every passing day.