Tough cookie Dravid will brush off the injury, says Shastri

Indian cricket team manger Ravi Shastri on Sunday said that skipper Rahul Dravid was recovering well from the nose injury that he suffered yesterday, and he would leave for Bangladesh tomorrow as scheduled.

Kolkata, May 6 : Indian cricket team manger Ravi Shastri on Sunday said that skipper Rahul Dravid was recovering well from the nose injury that he suffered yesterday, and he would leave for Bangladesh tomorrow as scheduled.

Shastri brushed aside speculations that the Indian captain may not go to Bangladesh in the wake of the injury, saying that Dravid is a "tough cookie" and would overcome the pain to play cricket.

"Rahul is fine. He will brush off that injury. He is a tough cookie. His improvement is being monitored," Shastri told a press conference here.

Meanwhile, Dravid did not attend the practice session today following doctor's advise to take some rest before hitting the ground again.

The Karnataka batsman suffered a nose injury while facing a bouncer by R P Singh at the conditioning camp here on Saturday.

He was hit on the face when he tried to hook a delivery, which took an edge off the bat before hitting the face. Despite wearing a helmet, the ball hit him with big impact as Dravid collapsed immediately. Team physio John Gloster rushed to him and administered him treatment after which the skipper left for the dressing room.India will play a three-match one-day series against Bangladesh from May 10 followed by two Tests.

ODI squad: Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwary, Dinesh Mongia, Piyush Chawla, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh.

Test squad: Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid (capt), VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble, Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, VRV Singh, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Munaf Patel.

ANI