Sourav will boost East

Nagpur: A keen tussle is on the cards when Bangladesh take on East Zone in the four-day Duleep Trophy match to be played at the VCA ground here from Tuesday.

Bangladesh, led by Mohammed Ashraful, mostly consist of youngsters as they make their debut in the national tournament as the foreign team. Last year, England A had participated in the meet.

The neighbours, coming to the competition having won their first-ever Test and one-day series against Zimbabwe at home, would be keen to start their campaign in the tournament with a win.

Ashraful expressed happiness over participation in such a tournament as it could benefit his team in preparing for their forthcoming tour to England during summer.

East captain Sourav Ganguly is looking forward to an improved show from his team. East lost to Central by six wickets and Sourav knows any slip-up here will take East out of contention.

The presence of Sourav and Rohan Gavaskar ? both missed the opening tie ? therefore, is certain to bolster East batting, besides adding variety to the bowling.

Paceman Shib Shankar Paul and wicketkeeper-batsman M.S. Dhoni along with opener Shiv Sundar Das could enhance their claims for a berth in national squad with impressive performance here.

Teams (from)

East Zone: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Rohan Gavaskar, Arindam Das, Sanjib Sanyal, Shib Shankar Paul, Ranadeb Bose, Shiv Sundar Das, Sanjay Satpathy, Dipak Mangaraj, P. Jayachandra, M.S. Dhoni, Shahid Khan, R. Satish and Sujit Roy.

Bangladesh: Mohammed Ashraful (captain), Shabbir Khan, Monjural Islam, Abdur Islam, Rajin Saleh, Shahajada, Anwar Hossein, Alok Kapali, Gegi Sehagir Hussain, Nafees Iqbal Khan, Atfab Ahmad Chowdhury, Al Sahariar and Talha Jubeer. (PTI)