India wins toss, elects to bat in first Test

Chittagong, May 18 (UNI) Indian skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and chose to bat in the first of the two match Test series against Bangladesh at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium here today.

Pacer Munaf Patel has been replaced by left-arm pacer R P Singh as the former was ruled out of the match this morning after he failed to pass in a fitness test taken by team physio John Gloster.

Meanwhile, Mumbai spinner Ramesh Pawar is making his debut in Test matches, while stylish middle-order batsman V V S Laxman finds himself out of the first XII.

For Bangladesh Shakib-al-Hasan makes his debut in the longer version of the game and becomes the 46th Bangladeshi player to wear the national cap.

Teams: India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, M S Dhoni, Dinesh Kaarthick, Zaheer Khan, R P Singh, Anil Kumble, Romesh Pawar, Wasim Jaffer, V R V Singh, Yuvraj Singh (12th man).

Bangladesh: Habibul Bashar (captain), Mohammed Ashrafful, Emanuel Haque (Jr), Javed Omar, Khaled Masud, Mashraffe Mortaza, Mohammad Rafique, Rajen Saleh, Shakib-al-Hasan, Shahdat Hossain, Sahariyar Nafees, Mehrab Hossain (12th Man).

UNI