India keen to win series against Bangladesh says Dravid

India keen to win series against Bangladesh: Dravid

Burying the World Cup debacle as a "thing of past", skipper Rahul Dravid Wednesday emphasised that India is keen to win the three-match One-day International series against Bangladesh starting Thursday. "The boys are very keen to get out and play some good cricket, especially after the World Cup, which had been a disappointment. We are very keen and we all want to win the series here," he told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, the match venue. Dravid didn't comment whether it was a fresh beginning for his team after the first-round exit at the World Cup in the West Indies in March. India lost two of the three matches, including one to Bangladesh, in the tournament.

"We are going to play a lot of cricket. We can't pick a team for one event. We have to keep a lot of things in mind and consider the whole scheme of things to see how we get the best out of each player to win. And that's the way we are looking at it," he said. Dravid pointed out that this was not the "end of something and beginning of something". "It's an on-going thing," he said of the increased number of matches played all round the year. The captain stressed that Bangladesh have shown some good results recently, not only against India but also against other teams.

"They have been getting a consistently good side and they no longer can be called minnows or anything. Now, everyone knows that if you want to beat Bangladesh we will have to play really well and to our best," he said. Dravid, who will be playing his 314th ODI, said that India also have good players who can cope with the local Bangladeshi conditions and perform well. He said that left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla and batsman Manoj Tiwary, who has been ruled out for five days with an injured right shoulder, have been left out, leaving XII for the match.

The XII are: Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthick, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar and Dinesh Mongia