Bangladesh take on PCA in practice match tomorrow

Chandigarh, Oct 3 (UNI) Bangladesh skipper Kazi Habul Basar and coach Dave Whatmore consider the practice match against Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) tomorrow at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium here as 'important' ahead of their clash in the ICC Trophy qualifying match against Sri Lanka to be played at the PCA stadium in Mohali on October 7.

Talking to reporters after a practice session this evening, Basar said, ''the practice match is very important for us as we were denied serious practice at home due to rain. Tomorrow's practice match against PCA CA XI would be beneficial for us before our encounter against Sri Lanka.'' ''We are aware that Sri Lanka would be fielding a full strength team against us. The practice match will be very helpful to our players. The wickets in India are very good,'' the skipper added.

Whatmore said, ''Sri Lanka are favourites against us.

They are a tough team and a number of star players are in their line-up. Besides their team efforts, individual players in the Lanka team can tilt the balance in their favour.'' Asked to rate their chances in the tournament , Whatmore said, ''Conditions in India suit our players. Consequently we have four orthodox bolwers in our side. As we are 10th in ICC ranking, we know any team can beat us. In these circumstances we face more challenge and we are preparing accordingly.'' When his attention was drawn to the fact that Bangladesh had beaten Sri Lanka, Whatmore, who also had a stint with the Sri Lanka team as coach, said ''that was long back. However, the win conveys that Bangladesh are capable of beating any team.'' Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan players underwent in fielding practice and playing light entertainment games. Muralitharan was seen bowling on one of the tracks.

The PCA players too had net practice in the morning session.

Bangladesh:Kazi Habul Basar (captain), Mohd Khaliq Mashud (wk), Mohd Rafiq, Khandekar Rajim Salahalam, Mohd Ashraful, M B Murtaza, Syed Rasmel, Khan Abdur Razak, Shariar Nafiz Ahmed, Kaji Shahadat Hussain Rajib, Aftab Choudhary, Mohd Farahd Reza, Shakibal Hassan and Mehram Hussain.

PCA XI: Ravi Inder Singh, Sunny Sohal, Sumit Sharma, Pankaj Dharmani (Capt), Uday Kaul, Raneet Ricky, Sarabjit Singh, Gaurav Gupta, Bipul Sharma, Gagandeep Singh, Amanpreet Singh, Love Ablish, Ishan Malhotra, Amit Uniyal and Rajesh Sharma.

UNI XC HS PDS GC2058