Team India leaves for Bangladesh tour

Team India left for 23-day long Bangladesh tour on Monday after five-day conditioning camp came to an end at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday. India will play three one-day internationals and two Test matches.

Kolkata/ Srinagar, May 7 : Team India left for 23-day long Bangladesh tour on Monday after five-day conditioning camp came to an end at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday. India will play three one-day internationals and two Test matches.

The team is expected to arrive in Dhaka at 10 am (local time).

The one-dayers will be played on May 10, 12 and 15, while the tests will be held from May 18 and May 25.

The spirited young Bangladeshi side knocked India out of the World Cup and stunned South Africa in Super Eight before bowing out.

India, still smattering from their shock World Cup exit, are taking a squad of experienced and young players to Bangladesh.

Veteran cricketer Kapil Dev has said it would be wrong to write off the team, a mix of senior and new faces.

"They (Team India) have good chance in Bangladesh. If they did not perform in the World Cup it does not mean that we do not have hopes from them. I hope they perform in this series," Dev told reporters on the sidelines of a golf tournament in Srinagar on Sunday.

"I think there is no issue about senior and junior players. When you are playing for the country you have to keep in mind the interest of the country and not of an individual player. There can be individual players but they cannot be above the game," he added.

Two senior players - Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly - have been rested for the one-dayers, but they are included in the Test team. Out-of-form batsman Virender Sehwag has made it to the one-day team, but has been dropped from the Tests team.

Promising batsmen Manoj Tiwary and Piyush Chawla are the new faces for the one-day series. Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Mongia, Rudra Pratap Singh and Ramesh Powar have made a comeback to Team India.

ANI