Chittagong, May 17
Spinners Ramesh Powar and Rajesh Pawar are likely to earn their maiden Test caps as India are pondering fielding a five-pronged bowling attack against Bangladesh in the first Test starting here tomorrow.

“We do have the option of playing five bowlers in these conditions considering the weather, the wicket and what we are trying to achieve in this game,” skipper Rahul Dravid said at the match-eve press conference.

The bowling combination then could very well be two pacers and three spinners, meaning Ramesh Powar and Rajesh Pawar were set to take the field along with veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble.

Powar has already played in one-day internationals while Pawar is yet to play an international game.

The team management will have to decide which of the seven batsmen in the squad should sit out to accommodate the fifth bowler.

“It’s never easy to drop anyone, especially when they are playing well. But yes, in this case we have to drop one. It’s part and parcel of the game,” Dravid said.

“You have to take these decisions keeping in mind what is the best combination under these circumstances and what helps you to win the game.

“All of them are good batsmen and so someone has to miss out and be unlucky.” Among the seven are two wicketkeepers, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik, but the latter has been picked as an specialist opener.

The skipper said it would be difficult one over the other as both Dhoni and Karthik were in good form.

Dravid denied that the visitors had an edge as they went into the two-Test series on the back of a 2-0 ODI series win.

“The match is going to begin zero-zero at even scores and then you need to perform and build on it,” he said.

“We also have to see that we do the right performance, get the basics right and do what is needed to do to win a Test match. We want to approach in a methodical manner.” Asked if the Indians had some special plans for host vice captain Mohammad Ashraful, who struck an unbeaten 158 in the previous Test match between the two sides here in 2004, Dravid said they were focusing on Bangladesh as a team, and not any particular player.

“Ashraful is a very talented batsman, he played extremely well in the last series. Hopefully, we will not allow him to score so many runs this series, he can score against somebody else,” he said.

Dravid said the wicket looked good for batting, but could take some spin later in the match.

“It looks like a good wicket. It looks pretty flat with little grass on it. It should hold together for the first two and-a-half to three days,” he said.

“In the fourth and fifth day, it can dry up and we can get some spin. But if the weather is hot and dry it can break up a little early also.” Asked if India’s huge experience and the several seasoned campaigners in the side would be of any advantage, Dravid replied “the fact is how you perform on a given day of the match. You can have a wealth of experience but it is of no use unless you perform.” — PTI

The news that Mohammad Ashraful is fit and has travelled from his hospital bed to Chittagong to play the first Test of the series will have come as a big boost to Bangladesh, as they try and prove to the world that they have made enough progress in the game.

The real barometer of a team’s improvement or otherwise is how it plays in a Test match. In a one-day game, a few overs or some good fortune can help turn a game around, and limited-overs cricket is replete with stories of teams having beaten better teams but being unable to do that in Test matches. That’s because in Test matches, there is time to recover from a few blows, and good teams invariably do that, while in limited-overs cricket, those few overs can change the match on its head.

Ashraful played one of the top innings in Test cricket at Chittagong against India a couple of years back, and that’s why his presence will no doubt lift the home team. Unfortunately, he also displayed a streak of stubbornness, in refusing to bat at his usual number in the second innings of that same Test, claiming that he was tired. Tired? A player in his early 20s claiming he was tired and didn’t want to bat and that too after playing a blazing innings the day before?

That innings was full of some glorious strokes that went for fours or sixes, so it wasn’t as if the young man had done a lot of running to be tired, but here he was, showing that he was a prima donna. The captain and coach couldn’t do a thing to persuade him, and when he came in to bat in the second innings, it was as if he was doing everybody a favour by doing so. Bangladesh went on to lose the game, and though Ashraful had scored that magnificent ton, he was a marked man and as soon as he lost form, he was promptly dropped from the team.

He has made a comeback but has not been in any great touch, though there is no doubting his potential. That nice guy Habibul Bashar continues to lead Bangladesh, and now that his own form is not too good, he may not have much to say to Ashraful or the rest of the team.

What Bangladesh need is a tough skipper; someone who will be looking everybody in the eye instead of looking down at his feet. That will take care of half the battle, though it is also important that the team has a tactical input, which it hasn’t had at all from anyone, including the coach.

How Bangladesh did not win that Test against Australia in Dhaka a couple of years back and instead went on to lose is a tale of lost opportunities. Agreed that Bashar is not the most cerebral skipper in the game, but what was the coach doing, sitting there in the dressing room? There were no messages going out to Bashar to try certain options or field-settings, and the Aussies wriggled out of a tight corner and went on to win the Test.

How much Bangladesh have learnt from that will be seen over the next fortnight. Their problems have hardly eased post the one-day series, and they will have to make the adjustment to the demands of Test cricket quickly. India will go in feeling a lot more confident, especially after the big win in the second one-dayer. The batting will be enormously strengthened by the return of Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman and Jaffer, and with Kumble too back to hunt batsmen down, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem for India to win the series. — PMG

Chittagong, May 17
Dav Whatmore today said he was used to handling star players and was ready for the challenge if given an opportunity to work in the hot seat. “All I can say is I am ready for the challenge if the opportunity comes. I am as much ready to sink my teeth into the problems and find out a solution as the BCCI would want me to,” Whatmore said on the eve of the first Test here.

Whatmore, whose contract with Bangladesh comes to an end after the current series, said he had a round of initial discussion with Indian team manager Ravi Shastri and that he had replied in the affirmative.

“I had a short discussion with Ravi about taking up the job of coaching India and I have said in the affirmative. The discussion centred around how interested I am. I am satisfied with the initial discussion. We are both satisfied,” Whatmore said.

He refused to divulge the details, saying “this is not for public consumption”.

Meanwhile, six top members of the BCCI, including its President Sharad Pawar and Secretary Niranjan Shah are slated to arrive here on Saturday, and are expected to have discussions with Whatmore.

The 53-year-old Australian, who coached Sri Lanka to the World Cup triumph in 1996 and guided Bangladesh to a good performance in the recent edition of the mega event, said he would have no problem handling the Indian stars.

“It’s a question of man-management and how far one wants to take ones career forward and I have to deal with them individually if and when the time comes,” he said.

Whatmore said he had handled stars as coach of Lancashire and Sri Lanka.

“I have had star material always. When I coached Lancashire the first season was a disaster, but the second season was the best the county had in their entire cricketing history. And both the seasons they had nine of the England team players in the side and three overseas players who were stars too.

“Sri Lanka had players like Arvinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga and Gurusinghe. They were big stars in their country. But I never found it difficult to handle them.

“What we tried to do was that the practice sessions were meaningful. The tactical part was taken care of. The team meetings were exciting and vibrant. I was not the only one talking. That’s the whole idea.” He said the Indian players needed to go about their task with a positive attitude. “I think what we need is positive attitude and a reassurance among the boys.” On Bangladesh, he said the most difficult part of coaching the team was coping with frustration of making repeated mistakes.

“They had a few good players when I took over. But then they were mediocre and I had to cope up with mediocrity. They were more reactive than being proactive.” On his transition into such a successful coach, he said, “that is what made the difference in my coaching. I have learnt a lot in those four years and the education has really helped me become whatever I am today.” — PTI

Dubai, May 17
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has cleared all cricketers tested during the World Cup in the West Indies after their samples produced negative results for prohibited substances.

ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed hailed the results, saying it was a positive sign for the image of game.

“The fact that all drug tests at the ICC World Cup proved negative is a great result for the game. It sends out a very positive message, something everyone connected with the game can be very proud of,” Speed said in a statement today.

“It also confirms cricket’s reputation for being low risk when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs but that does not mean the ICC, or any of our Members, can afford to be complacent in this area,” he added.

In the premier cricket tournament, held in March-April, 15 of the tournament’s 51 matches, including both semifinals and the final, plus two warm-up matches, were randomly selected for testing.

Two players from each team involved in those matches were randomly selected for testing, giving a total of 68 samples that were submitted for analysis. All match venues had doping control facilities and there were no reported problems or issues.

Samples given from matches in Jamaica were flown to Canada for checking while samples from all other countries went to London. All samples were checked at WADA-accredited laboratories.

Emphasising the ICC’s zero-tolerance policy, Speed said cricketers were the role models and needed to set example for the public.

“We should never forget that cricketers are role models and they need to be sending out the right messages to the public, and that is one of the reasons why we must continue to have a zero tolerance on the use of performance-enhancing drugs,” he said. — PTI

Karachi, May 17
A three-member enquiry committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) today held former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq responsible for the team’s World Cup debacle, which included a shock defeat to Ireland and an unceremonious first round exit.

The committee, headed by former Test player Ijaz Butt, was formed by the board to find out the causes of the team’s poor performances in the Caribbean.

“There was poor leadership from Inzamam, who was an introvert and autocratic captain, especially after the Oval fiasco when his refusal to go on to the field was overlooked by the PCB Chairman,” the committee said in its report.

“Inzamam failed to lead from the front and the chairman of the selection committee was also a weak and a pliant person. As a consequence, the team was chosen at behest of Inzamam,” it said. “There was also serious doubts over Inzamam’s fitness to play one-day cricket over the past year,” it said. — PTI

New Delhi, May 17
Sports Ministry’s decision to drop hockey from the priority list might have caught everyone by surprise, but the government’s grant to the federation has been steadily cut over last three years.

Indian Hockey Federation received Rs 194.21 lakh in 2004-05 but there was a drastic cut the following year and the federation got only Rs 96.46 lakh from the government purse for promotion of the game in the country.

The amount went down further to Rs 92.09 lakh in the last financial year (2006-07).

The information was revealed by Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar who gave details of the financial assistance provided to sports federations while answering a question in Rajya Sabha today.

The government supplements the efforts of the national sports federations by providing assistance for training and participation or coaching of teams abroad, and procurement of equipments.

Hockey is not alone as some important sports federations have heavily lost on government funding in the last three years.

The weightlifting federation, which faced two international bans in two years for doping offences, has been the worst hit.

From Rs 79.88 lakh in 2004-05, and Rs 51.41 in 2005-06, the grant has come down to a meagre Rs 3.28 lakh in the last financial year (2006-07).

Athletics, the mother of all sports, was also not spared.

In fact, the Athletics Federation of India took the biggest hit with the grants coming down from Rs 227.95 lakh in 2005-06 to Rs 86.83 lakh last season, a fall of Rs 141.12 lakh.

The case with All India Football Federation, which has also been dropped from the priority category, is not different. The AIFF got Rs 119.36 lakh in 2004-05 but could manage only Rs 70.37 lakh the next season. It further went down to Rs 30.55 lakh in the last year.

All India Tennis Association got Rs 136.87 lakh in 2004-05 while the grant came down to Rs 90.07 lakh in 2006-07.

The assistance to shooting which got India bulk of the medals in Commonwealth Games and Asian Games was increased from Rs 218.37 lakh 2004-05 to Rs 433 lakh next year but fell to Rs 373.19 lakh in 2006-07.

But the picture is rosy for some other federations like Table Tennis Federation of India and Archery Association of India.

On the back of some commendable international performance, TTFI’s grants have been rising steadily. Form Rs 116.78 lakh in 2004-05, the grants have gone up to Rs 178.75 lakh in 2006-07.

Archery’s purse was got a hike to Rs 96.48 lakh last year, from 58.95 lakh in 2004-05.