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Ganguly confident of good show in Asia Cup

Notwithstanding the current match-fixing allegations, a confident India begins its campaign in the seventh Asia Cup cricket championship, taking on hosts Bangladesh at the Bangabandhu Stadium here on Tuesday.

Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly, who seems confident of winning the cup his country has won four times, said, ''We have come here to do well and win the title. Our record here is good so far and I am sure it would remain so.''

Addressing the first press meet after assembling here, the Indian captain, however, decided to steer clear of the match-fixing allegations, saying: ''We will speak only on questions relating to the Asia Cup cricket.''

The meeting was attended by coach Kapil Dev, captain Saurav Ganguly, vice-captain Rahul Dravid and manager Samiran Chakrabarty.

Admitting that that the absence of Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad would be felt, Saurav said the two young bowlers - Thiru Kumaran and Amit Bhandari - who have been chosen in their places, are the best available.

''This is the best available side now,'' Saurav added.

Kapil, when asked how he rated his opponents who were considered minnows of international cricket, said, ''At the moment we are thinking of Bangladesh seriously. Besides having the home advantage, Bangladesh had put up a good show in the last World Cup. We are taking the match with all seriousness.''

Asked whether there would be any special strategy and what would be the playing eleven, Kapil said: ''We will decide about the our strategy and team after seeing the condition of the wicket and the number of overs we have to play tomorrow.''

To another question whether India would agree if there is any change in the schedule, like playing a match on the reserve day, Kapil said, ''It is the authority here who would look into it. Our job is to play.''

Manager Samiran Chakrabarty yesterday hinted that India would not mind playing on a rest day.

Saurav later said the wicket at Bangabandhu stadium was a batting one. ''If it remains so we have very little to worry as we have a very good batting line-up this time,'' he said.

It must be mentioned that there were three hundred-plus runs scored in the last Asia versus Rest of the World match, and also during the Independence Cup, where both Sachin and Saurav amassed huge individual totals.

Saurav reiterated that he did not subscribe to the view that the team will be in distress if he or Sachin do not get runs.

''We have a very strong batting line-up in Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Robin Singh. All of them are very experienced and capable of tackling difficult situations, ''Saurav added.

In all probability, Hemang Badani, the 23-year-old batsman from Tamil Nadu who impressed the team management with his performances at the conditioning camp and various home tournaments, is likely to make his debut for the senior Indian team tomorrow. Besides being a hard-hitting batsman and a top fielder, Badani is also a spin-bower. Since Bangladesh is the weakest of all opponents here, it is likely that the team management will include him in the playing eleven. Since the team is likely to retain at least a couple of specialist spinners and medium pacers against Bangladesh, one of the senior batsman could be rested to make way for Badani.

The hosts appeared confident of putting up a tough fight. Bangladesh captain Aminul Islam Bul Bul said: "Gone are the days when Bangladesh only used to try to contain the opponents from scoring a huge total and then score something without getting all out."

Admitting that India was much stronger and experienced in all departments of the game, Aminul said: ''We are also more experienced than previous times and the Bangladeshi team has proved their worth this time. Our target is to earn a win at our home soil and we would play in that spirit. Our fielding has improved now and we will play positive cricket tomorrow.''

The match is scheduled to start at 1430 hrs (local time). The umpires are Mohammad Nazir and B C Cooray. The third umpire is Syed Mahbub Ullah.

The teams:

India (from): Saurav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Mohd. Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Robin Singh, Hemang Badani, Syed Saba Karim (wicketkeeper), Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi, Nikhil Chopra, Ajit Agarkar, Thiru Kumaran and Amit Bhandari.

Bangladesh (from): Animul Islam Bul bul (captain), Jaed Omar Gulu, Shahriyar Hossain Bidyut, Khaled Masud Pilot, Akram Khan, Naimur Rahman Durjoy, Habibul Bashar Suman, Mohammad Rafique, Enamul Hoq Mohi, Hasibul Hossain Shanta, Monjurul Islam, Mustafique Rehman Babu, Shafiquddin Ahmed and Khaled Masud Sujan.

UNI