CHITTAGONG: Back spasms have ruled India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni out of the first Test against Bangladesh starting in Chittagong on Sunday, the Indian team manager said.
Virender Sehwag will lead India in Dhoni’s place while Dinesh Karthik will keep wickets, team manager Arshad Ayub said.
Bangladesh’s skipper Shakib Al Hasan has said his team is keen to show how much it has improved when it takes on India, the top-ranked Test side in cricket, in a two match series.
“We have a very good chance,” Hasan said on Saturday in Chittagong, which is 135 miles (216 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Dhaka.
“We are improving. Hopefully, our boys will show their best.” His comment came as India’s Sehwag dismissed Bangladesh as “an ordinary side” that has little chance of upsetting India in the series.
“In one-day (cricket) they can surprise anybody but not in Test matches. It’s an ordinary side,” Sehwag said Saturday.
Bangladesh beat a weakened West Indies 2-0 in an away Test series last year, but Sehwag said Bangladesh did not have the bowlers to put India’s strong batting lineup under any real pressure.
India’s batting has been reinforced with the return of veterans Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Venkatsai Laxman, who were not part of the side that lost a tri-nation series to Sri Lanka in Bangladesh earlier this month.
“The kind of batting lineup we have, I think it’s difficult for Bangladesh to take 20 Indian wickets. Even Sri Lanka can’t do that. So it’s very, very difficult for Bangladesh,” said Sehwag.
Bangladesh’s coach Jamie Siddons said his side was keen to show how much they had improved. “We are not an extraordinary side. But we have proved in recent history that we are an improving side,” Siddons said.
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Raqibul Hossain, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Shahriar Nafees, Shahadat Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Enamul Hossain, Mahbubul Alam and Shafiul Islam.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, P. Ojha, I. Sharma, Murali Vijay, Dinesh. Karthik and Sudeep Tyagi.
