Dravid's men eager to assert dominance by sweeping the Tests

Chittagong, May 17: Team India skipper Rahul Dravid commences the two Test series tomorrow with 'promises' of maintaining the clean slate and asserting India's unflinching domination over Bangladesh in the longer version of the game.

The last time India played against Bangladesh under Sourav Ganguly, the team was riding the crest of success, and the visitors walloped the hosts within four days in both the Tests. This time India is more a side in transition having coped with unfavourable times under Greg Chappell and now rebuilding on their strengths under stop-gap cricket manager Ravi Shastri.

India has done well in the Tests in recent past. In South Africa they proved themselves. But Dravid has come here to assert himself as a full fledged captain in the face of raging controversies and carrying on the Indian dominance with ''promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.'' It was evident when Dravid said, ''We are a good Test team.

We have done well against them. We are aware of their improvements.

But we expect to do well in the two Tests.'' ''We are looking at another clean sweep. We have a good team and we are looking at good victories,'' Dravid said.

India and Bangladesh have no comparison on paper. While India is on the fourth spot of the ICC Test rankings with 107 points, just one behind Pakistan, Bangladesh are the bottom rungers.

The hosts have only one win to show from the 48 Tests they played so far.

So there is no comparison, but there is a point or two to prove.

The issue is how convincing the wins are after the two ODIs where they were pushed hard. And how effectively Dravid handles his stars who are back in the eleven.

With the return of the Test masters, if we may say so, after they were rested from the ODIs in Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, alongwith V V S Laxman, Anil Kumble and Wasim Jaffer, the batting line looks robust indeed.

While Ganguly and Tendulkar looked in the groove right from day one, Laxman looked comfortable yesterday after initial rustiness.

If the clues from the net are to be taken into consideration then Dinesh Kaarthick will open with Jaffer, as India probes about for a steady opening partnership.

With the third to fifth spots going to Dravid, Laxman and Yuvraj Singh, Sourav Ganguly, the highest run getter in South Africa, will come in sixth. Now the dilemma would be whether to go in with six batsmen or with seven.

The position of M S Dhoni, who recently became the man-of-the-series in the ODIs, thus hangs in balance. Anil Kumble and one of the Pawars, Rajesh and Romesh, are sure starters with the wicket assisting the spinners but the question is whether Dravid would go in with three pacers or two. Zaheer Khan and V R V Singh are sure starters to begin with.

In contrast Bangladesh does not have anything to lose and everything to gain. Habibul Bashar, who has been the mainstay of their Test batting line-up, said, ''We are going into the match with memories of a close battle with Australia in the last Test we played.'' Well the last Test Bangladesh played was 13 months ago.

So getting the team into the Test groove would be quite a task for the Bangladesh side.

Shahriar Nafees and Javed Omar who have done reasonably well as openers will continue to open the innings. The good thing is Ashraful and Emanuel are back training. If Sakib-al-Hasan makes his debut, then the last batting slot would be up for grabs between Tushar and Rajen Saleh.

Syed Rasel and Khaled Masud along with Mashrafe will lead the bowling attack.

The pitch itself looks bald and flat. The team that will win the toss will have a ball batting on a flat track that has even bounce. The wicket is, however, expected to break up with time and take spin with low bounce, says Belal, the Chittagong Divisional Stadium curator.

Bashar has said, ''We have been away from the Tests for sometime but we hope to do well as we have memories of a fightback and we have been able to at least push India a little in the ODIs.

We promise to push harder.'' More than anything else for Bangladesh it will be a test of character, of where they have reached in the format of cricket that experts call the purest form.

With rain threats always a factor in this time of the year in the port city, the Met office says unpredictability is the watchword.

However, if the script falls in place India will cast a coup over Pakistan and move up to the third spot in the ICC Test rankings if they sweep the Test series 2-0, beginning with the first Test tomorrow.

Teams: India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, V V S Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, M S Dhoni, Dinesh Kaarthick, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, R P Singh, Anil Kumble, Rajesh Pawar, Romesh Pawar, Wasim Jaffer, V R V Singh.

Bangladesh: Habibul Bashar (captain), Mohammed Ashraful, Emanuel Haque (jr), Javed Omar, Khaled Masud, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mehrab Hossain (jr), Md Rafique, Rajen Saleh, Sakib-al-Hasan, Shahdat Hossain, Shahriar Nafees, Syed Rasel.

Umpires: Daryl Harper and Billy Doctrove Third Umpire: Enamul Haque Moni Reserve Umpire: Jahangir Alam Match Referee: Rohsan Mahanama>

UNI