India eyeing series whitewash against Bangladesh

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DHAKA - Bolstered by the return of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, India will eye a 2-0 series whitewash when they take on Bangladesh in the second cricket Test starting here Sunday.

India, ranked number one in Tests, won the first match by 113 runs at Chittagong.

Dhoni, who was ruled out of the first Test with a back spasm, will be back leading the side while Harbhajan who sat out of the match with a neck injury, will also return to the side.

However, VVS Laxman and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth will miss the Test. Laxman hurt his left hand while fielding at Chittagong while paceman Sreesanth has flown back home with a hamstring injury.

“Harbhajan has recovered and is fit to play. I took part in the training session and I am hundred percent fit to play,” Dhoni told reporters Saturday.

“Laxman and Sreesanth are not fit. We have to see how the wicket looks like tomorrow before deciding on the composition of the team,” said Dhoni.

Bangladesh initially put up a good fight at Chittagong, bowling out India for 243 in the first innings. But their batsmen could not put up a big score while India fought their way back into the match, bowling out the hosts for 242. Gautam Gambhir then helped India consolidate, scoring his fifth successive Test century while the bowlers finished the

job in clinical fashion.

In-form Gambhir would fancy his chances of equalling Don Bradman’s feat of six consecutive Test centuries.

“Gambhir is a very good batsman and he is doing really well for us. We are just hoping he gets one more century. It will be proud moment for him and for the entire team,” said Dhoni.

Bangladesh would have to get their act together to put up a better performance. The batsmen need to back up the good job done by the bowlers.

“We have to learn from our mistakes. There were a few positives in the first Test. Mushfiqur Rahim hit a century while Shahadat Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan got five wickets each. We will have to improve on that,” said opener Tamim Iqbal.

“We are not taking it as just another Test. We know that we have to compete and fight. We believe that we can draw the Test series.”

Teams:

Bangladesh (from): Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Junaid Siddique, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Ashraful, Raqibul Hasan, Shahriar Nafees, Shahadat Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Enamul Hossain, Mahbubul Alam, Shafiul Islam.

India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain-wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik, Sudeep Tyagi, Harbhajan Singh.