BASHAR

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP):

THE BANGLADESH cricket team has been struck by illness ahead of the first Test match against India, captain Habibul Bashar said yesterday.

Top-order batsman Tushar Imran will miss the match because of a fever, Bashar told reporters at Shahid Ruhul Amin Stadium in the south-eastern city of Chittagong, the venue for the five-day match starting today. But Bashar, who has been suffering from a cold, was confident he will be fit to play.

"I feel a lot better today. I hope to make it to the final 11," the Bangladeshi skipper said after a brief practice session.

Today's match will be Bangladesh's first test game in 13 months.

New boys

"We have played a lot of one-day matches in the past year. It would have been good if we had played some longer versions of the game," Bashar said. "We have some new boys in the team. But it is not going to be easy to play the first Test match after a long time."

Star players Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman and Anil Kumble are back in India's Test squad. The final teams will be announced before the match starts today.

"We would like to keep it a little bit of a surprise," Indian captain Rahul Dravid said. "It's not easy to drop anyone. But you have to do it."

Squads

Bangladesh (from): Habibul Bashar (captain), Mohammad Ashraful, Javed Omar, Shahriar Nafees, Sakib-Al-Hasan, Rajin Saleh, Khaled Mashud (wicketkeeper) Mohammad Rafique, Enamul Haque, Mashrafee Bin Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain and Mehrab Hossain.

India (from): Rahul Dravid (captain), Wasim Zafar, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Mohindra Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Saurav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, R. P. Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Anil Kumble, V.R.V. Singh, Romesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar. >