Chittagong, Jan 16 (Inditop.com) Ahead of the two-Test series starting here Sunday, India vice-captain Virender Sehwag termed Bangladesh as an “ordinary side” and said that the hosts cannot beat the world No.1 team.
“Bangladesh can surprise anybody in one-day matches, but not in Tests. It’s an ordinary side,” Sehwag said here Saturday.
Sehwag said that Bangaldesh does not have the bowling power to take up 20 Test wickets. But Bangaldesh registered an 2-0 away Test win over an under-strength West Indies last year.
“The kind of batting line-up we have, I think it’s difficult for Bangladesh to take 20 Indian wickets. Even Sri Lanka can’t do that. So it’s very, very difficult for Bangladesh,” said Sehwag.
Sehwag, however, insisted that the team is not think much about the No.1 tag but were focused on playing good cricket than rankings.
“We are playing a Test match tomorrow and we’re not thinking that we are number one, number two or number three. Yes, we have a Test against Bangladesh and we have to do well to win the match,” he said.
Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan said that his team is capable of giving a good fight.
“I think we have a very good chance in this Test match. Hopefully, our boys will come up with their best,” said Shakib.
“India have been ranked number one only recently. I think South Africa and Australia are much better than them. It’s true that the Indians are playing very good cricket but still they are human.”
“They can always make mistakes. If they make mistakes and we capitalise on them, we will be a very good team,” Shakib said.
Teams:
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Raqibul Hossain, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Shahriar Nafees, Shahadat Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Enamul Hossain, Mahbubul Alam, Shafiul Islam
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper-captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik, Sudeep Tyagi.