Just days before the inaugural ceremony of the ICC World Cup kicks off in Bangladesh’s dusty capital, Dhaka, the hope of the home nation walking away with the trophy and causing the biggest upset in cricketing history weighs heavily on the shoulders of both Bangladeshi players and supporters alike.

For Bangladesh, like so many other South Asian nations – misunderstood at the worst of times and misrepresented at the best by the international media – this is a chance to shine, to roar, and pitch raw talent up against the polished helmets of Australia, England and South Africa.

However, will raw talent be enough against the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Shahid Afridi, men of the same soil, as determined as any to bring cricket home to the 30 degrees latitude club? Bangladesh indeed faces some very tall odds (and I’m not talking about Mohammed Irfan), so which one of our colonial and post-colonial oppressors will we Bangladeshis support if we are denied a spot in the finals – England, India or Pakistan?

Proshanta, sitting beside me – long hair, t-shirt, shoes with no socks, an artist needless to say – is supporting India. We had just scrutinised his latest exhibition, heavily influenced by the Bangladesh liberation struggle; an orgy of green and red oil on canvas. Born in 1965, at the age of six he witnessed his father being spared by pro-Pakistan forces because he was the only one in a line of Hindus awaiting execution that could fix the commanding officer’s car. The rest of them were “taken away”. “I will never forget that period in my life, so how can I support Pakistan knowing what they did in ’71?” Many of his generation feel the same.

His story reminded me of my last visit to Karachi when a Pakistani Air Force Wing Commander angered me by saying, in all honesty, “I can’t believe you Bangladeshis haven’t killed all the Hindus yet!” He has passed away since, and when I look back at that meeting with him now, I get nostalgic, I laugh, not at the humour, but the ignorance. That was just the way people thought back then. Truly, the late ’60s and early ’70s were tragic times for Pakistan-Bangladesh relations, though having said that, I’m sure what the British did in 1847 or the Indians in 1947 was just as despicable.

Alas, if only boundaries and resources could be determined with One Day International cricket matches.  Bloodless wars, where mighty warriors strolled off the battle grounds for light refreshments, cucumber sandwiches and orange slices before continuing to play for the lawful sovereignty of Sindh, West Bengal or even the entire Republic of India. However, I imagine that such a game would soon descend into total vigilantism, not too dissimilar to Douglas Adam’s Brockian Ultra-Cricket!

For the younger generation, the reasons are not so personal. “Students who were born in the ’80s grew up being able to support (for the first time) a Bangladesh national cricket team (first game played in the ICC trophy in 1979), whereas in the past that option was not available. Previously, fans might have opted for Pakistan out of religious loyalty,” explained Sarwar, a 54-year-old professor at a leading university in Dhaka.

Religious affinity, from observing his students, plays a less significant part these days. The younger generation see on a daily basis how fellow Pakistani countrymen kill each other regardless of their faith, Islam. Consequently, the need to support Pakistan for the sake of religious unity is lost among the youth of Bangladesh. They support England, Australia or India just like everyone supports Argentina or Brazil when it comes to football. It is a default setting.

There then remains one more category of fans, those who were born after liberation, but before the full realisation of the Bangladesh national cricket team. That group would include me. So, whom would I support? As a British-Bengali, my story is slightly complicated by the pull of two cultures, as was the case for the previous British ambassador to Bangladesh, Anwar Chowdhury – the first ever Bengali origin ambassador in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) – who famously said he would support the English cricket team against Bangladesh.

Quite frankly, I do not agree with him. I can not understand why we feel like we need to belong somewhere or believe in something. Life wasn’t black and white the last time I checked. Surely, it’s possible to love two equally important parts of your life just the same, in a similar way that one unconditionally loves both their parents just as much. In this sense, I would say that Britain is my father, in that it puts the bread on the table, and Bangladesh is my mother in that in teaches me the values of humanity.

So, whom do I want to win when mummy and daddy have a fight? In other words, who are my favourite colonialists? Well, this year’s cricket World Cup falls on the 40th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence. So I hope it’s a Bangladesh-Pakistan World Cup final just because of the historical context. And, unlike Anwar Chowdhury, I’m supporting Bangladesh all the way. England can wait; we’ve waited this long already.

Misha Hussain is a British journalist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.