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It has been an article of faith ever since the squad for this Ashes series was announced. Regardless of what mood he might find himself in on tour, Steve Harmison was bound to have one matchwinning spell lurking somewhere up his sleeve. Surely. Maybe. Possibly …The longer this series has gone on, and the more he has struggled with his demons, expectations and assorted technical malfunctions, the further that assertion has slipped from view. Harmison’s horrible first delivery at the Gabba was so far removed from his frenzied assault on the Aussie batsmen at Lord’s last summer, it was tempting to believe that his mojo had been lost for good.Harmison has, after all, been an anonymous tourist almost throughout his eventful career. Aside from that fantasy tour of the Caribbean three years ago, he has travelled almost as well as a piece of illegal fruit through the customs at Perth Airport. He managed just nine expensive wickets on an enigmatic tour of South Africa in 2004-05, never made it to Sri Lanka a year earlier after succumbing to a back problem, and on this very ground four years ago, he had such an attack of stage fright, he completely lost his run-up.His fondness for the quiet life has become the stuff of cliché – a round of darts at Ashington working men’s club is said to be his idea of heaven – but it has a serious subtext. What did Harmison, whose role in last summer’s Ashes can never be erased from his records, have left to prove in a game he’s always seemed to tolerate rather than enjoy? Waiting for Godot was never as tedious as waiting for Harmy to locate his inner ignition key.Opinions were divided before the start of this Test. The “bin him now” camp were eventually shouted down by the residents of the last-chance saloon who argued, as Alec Stewart did earlier this week, that England had a match to win, and a matchwinner in their ranks. Even so, his series figures from the first two Tests were 1 for 288, and his spell in that despairing second innings at Adelaide had been so anodyne, that his eventual selection for this game can only have been borderline at best.Sensibly, he was not trusted with the new ball, as Andrew Flintoff hurtled in with the clarity of purpose that his closest friend so lacks, but when he did enter the attack in the 10th over of the day, he immediately located a patch on the pitch that offered his favourite thing in the world – bounce. You’d expect such goodies at the WACA, but amid all the mutterings about the declining standard of these pitches, it still came as something of a surprise.

Suddenly, Harmison was hunting with the alacrity of old. It brought to mind his Jekyll-and-Hyde showing at The Oval last summer. Before the match disappeared in a puff of litigation, Harmison went from abysmal (22-3-98-0) to respectable (30.5-6-125-4) in the space of 8.5 frenzied overs. Such is his way. As Stewart pointed out, confidence is the key for Harmison. Give him an inch and he’ll help himself to a mile.”He was bowling very well today,” said his partner-in-crime, Monty Panesar, afterwards. “It was fantastic to see the ball coming out of his hand and the bounce he gets off a normal natural length. I think he does help me when we bowl in tandem together, and it reminded me of Old Trafford.”Old Trafford? Oh yeah. That was a match that took place four months and a lifetime ago, in which Harmison and Panesar took 19 wickets between them to stun Pakistan. The attack that day also featured Matthew Hoggard and Sajid Mahmood – four bowlers who also wrapped up wins at Headingley and (by default) The Oval. Quite why England’s think-tank felt so compelled to change a winning team will remain one of the two great mysteries of this series. The other, of course, is Harmison himself.

Match facts

Friday, April 11, 2008Start time 09:30 am local time (04:00 GMT)

Big picture

Kanpur’s Green Park is known to produce more draws than results – 12 in 19 Tests to be precise – but after India’s embarrassing submission on a green first-day Ahmedabad pitch, the groundstaff have reportedly prepared a turner to try and suit what has traditionally been India’s strength – spin. Trailing 0-1 going into the final Test, India are up against it and may rely on a three-pronged spin attack to level the series.The pitch looks extremely dry and has no grass cover. Anil Kumble and the curator felt it would break as early as the third day and assist spin from there on. Gary Kirsten, India’s coach, is reported to have been taken aback by the track on first inspection. If all predictions hold true, neither side will want to bat last. The toss will be extremely crucial.The bounce is expected to be on the lower side which, given Dale Steyn’s raw pace, could also work in South Africa’s favour. If they win then Graeme Smith will become his country’s most successful captain after equalling Hansie Cronje’s record of 27 victories in Ahmedabad. South Africa will also be the first side to win in India since Australia in 2004.

Form guide – India

Last five matches: LWDDLPlayer to watch: Given the nature of the pitch and the slight doubt surrounding Kumble’s fitness, Harbhajan Singh could be the biggest threat to South Africa. After his captain he is the only bowler with some degree of success at this ground, with eight wickets at 28.62 here.

Form guide – South Africa

Last five matches: WWWDWPlayer to watch: Steyn has been hot all series and could again be a pain in India’s neck. If the pitch does stay low, it’s not improbable to envision Steyn causing trouble with the ball darting around the batsmen’s ankles at extreme pace. He has ran through the tail with ease but it’s the bigger, better batsmen that could be in for a spot of bother.

Team news

Injury concerns mean India might end up re-jigging their bowling line-up again. Kumble will play permitting a fitness test on the morning, and if he doesn’t make the cut Ramesh Powar could come in as the third spinner to go with Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla. Ishant Sharma’s fitness is being monitored and he is the likely candidate to partner Sreesanth with the new ball. Irfan Pathan applied himself excellently with the bat in Ahmedabad but his bowling was pedestrian and could face the axe.Smith is most certain to maintain the winning combination from Ahmedabad. Even though the pitch is expected to assist spin, and they have Robin Pietersen as another left-arm option, South Africa are tipped to play just the one spinner in Paul Harris.India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 VVS Laxman, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 7 Anil Kumble (capt), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Sreesanth, 11 Ishant Sharma.South Africa (probable): 1 Neil McKenzie, 2 Graeme Smith (capt), 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Ashwell Prince, 6 AB de Villiers, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Morne Morkel, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini.Umpires: Billy Doctrove and Asad Rauf.Weather: The weather in Kanpur is very hot, with clear skies and a chance of a few clouds as the game progresses. The temperatures are expected to hover around the 37 degrees centigrade mark, warmer than it was during the second Test.

Stats & trivia

Shaun Tait has tested out his injured elbow in a novel way by joining an Indian chef in the kitchen. Experiencing heat of a different kind, Tait briefly added cooking chicken korma and fish curry to his rehabilitation programme in Melbourne, where he rated himself a “decent chance” of making the tour to South Africa.After having surgery in June, Tait has recovered well enough to be named in the Twenty20 World Championship squad, but he is still a few weeks away from his first bowl at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane. “I’ll see how the elbow goes in the next couple of weeks to see whether I can get up for it or not,” Tait told .”It feels fine but obviously with bowling a fair bit of stress goes on it. I’m a decent chance but we’ll see how it goes.” He has no plans to tinker with his technique despite regular injuries since playing his first Test in 2005.If fit for the tournament in September, Tait will use the series to prove he is ready for regular action in the following seven-match one-day tour of India before focussing on adding to his two Test appearances. He played his first season of one-day internationals last summer and his 23 World Cup wickets were crucial to Australia’s overall success.”There’s going to be some pretty big opportunities coming up,” Tait said. “With Glenn McGrath stepping down I suppose there’s a new door that could be opened and if I get the opportunity hopefully I’ll do well.” Tait is also excited by the prospect of bowling with Brett Lee, who is due to return in South Africa from ankle surgery.Tait was in the kitchen to launch the general release of tickets for the upcoming Australian summer. Australia will face India in four Tests starting on Boxing Day after playing two matches against Sri Lanka in November. The three sides will also take part in the CB Series while Australia will attempt to regain the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in December.Tickets go on sale in Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart and Perth on Wednesday while seats in Brisbane will be offered on Thursday and in Melbourne on Friday. “The team has had a great record in Australia for the past decade,” Tait said, “and a big part of that success is the encouragement we receive from our green-and-gold army of supporters.”

Technology is not the answer to improving umpiring standards because the science behind several innovations is not 100% accurate, according to a senior sports executive with Australia’s . Poor decisions from the on-field officials in the Sydney Test between Australia and India have led to suggestions that the third umpire should have access to extra assistance on top of straight replays. uses its snickometer to demonstrate the sound of edges behind, Hawk-Eye and the strike-zone to judge lbw decisions and the infra-red Hot Spot camera to display whether the ball has hit the bat. However, Steve Crawley, an executive sports producer with the network, said some of the innovations could not be entirely relied upon.”I’d hate us to be involved in the judicial system of cricket,” Crawley told the . “We’ve only got one thing 100% backed up by science and that’s Hot Spot; the others aren’t 100%.”Snicko is very well informed but it’s not 100%, and Hawk-Eye’s not 100%. And also there’s the time-frame. Yesterday, with one of the decisions, Snicko, like all computer systems, went down and it had to be rebooted and it was four minutes before we got it up. Mostly, it’s only a couple of deliveries but those sorts of things can happen.”Crawley said assisting umpires with side-on angles for run-outs was one thing but the lengthy process of using extra devices would provide too many interruptions to the game. “It’s a long, dour game as it is but, from our point of view, we don’t want that power,” Crawley said. “But, if the ICC decides to go down that path, we’ll co-operate.”Crawley’s comments came as Sunil Gavaskar, the chairman of the ICC’s Cricket Committee, said there was little chance the neutral-umpire rule would be removed any time soon. Steve Waugh wrote in his newspaper column that there was no reason the world’s top official, Simon Taufel, should not stand in matches involving his own country, Australia.”The reason the ICC and the world cricket community accepted third-country umpires was to eliminate the element of bias, or any suspicion that might have been pointed at umpires,” Gavaskar told the . “That will be there for a while.”I know there is some talk about having only the best umpires come in, but rather than have any controversy regarding decisions I think that [the current system] is probably a lot better. If a third-country umpire makes a [questionable] decision, it won’t be as acrimonious as if a home umpire made that decision.”

Glamorgan are in talks to sign Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan allrounder, for their Twenty20 campaign this summer.”We want a top-class player who will win us matches and also drag people through the gate and Afridi is someone who fits the bill,” Matthew Maynard, Glamorgan’s cricket manager, said. “It’s up to the Pakistan board to agree to release him for that period of his contract.”There were rumours last week that Glamorgan were trying to sign Brian Lara, but the club denied the suggestion vehemently. Whether they sign Afridi or another big name from overseas, Glamorgan desperately need to improve on a poor performance last year in which they finished bottom of their division, with just one win in eight matches.”Afridi is one of only half a dozen players in the world who would help the team progress in the competition but also benefit us commercially by filling our magnificent new stadium. That’s the purpose,” said Maynard. “I’m keen to sign a big name player for the Twenty 20 window and there are only a small pool of big names still available.”Virander Sehwag and Yurvaj Singh are also possibilities. Sachin Tendulkar was another option. But he’s not been a great Twenty 20 player. We need a player who contributes in all aspects.”The PCB, however, have yet to release Afridi or Danish Kaneria who is due to play for Essex. A executive board meeting will be held on March 8, when more strict guidelines on the use of Pakistan players in country cricket are expected to be unveiled.

It was sweet revenge for Chemplast who trounced India Pistons by sevenwickets in the final of the Moin ud Dowlah Cup in Hyderabad today. Amammoth undefeated stand of 217 between Jatin Paranjpe and SujithSomasundar helped Chemplast make light of a target of 281 to canterhome with almost seven overs to spare in what finally transpired to bea ridiculously one-sided affair.JR Madanagopal added another sorry episode to his past with anotherfateful dropped catch to let off another Mumbaikar. A dolly miss atlong off from the bowling of Robin Singh relieved Paranjpe, then on 63out of a total of 177, who had already turned towards the pavilion, inall preparedness to walk off. Robin fumed, Madanagopal squirmed butChemplast just laughed all the way to the bank.It was not all hunky-dory for the victors in the morning after theleft-handed Hemanth Kumar pillaged a bustling century to lift Pistonsto an imposing 280/9. Yet to play in a first class match, Hemanthsurely on the evidence of his showing here, is just weeks away frombeing blooded by Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy this season.The match started on the hallowed lawns of the Gymkhana Ground onwhose precincts the first edition of the Moin ud Dowlah Cup had kickedoff in the season of 1930-31. In that year such exalted personages asJack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe opened the batting for theMaharajkumar of Vizianagaram’s XI and a few years later the WestIndian Learie Constantine gave a well rounded account of his multipletalents.Just outside the main entrance there is a plaque which pompouslyannounces the structure beyond as the Hyderabad Cricket AssociationStadium. Well, stadium it may not be but the ground still retains apicturesque charm, surrounded on three sides by wide open spaces suchas the Parade Ground, the Polo Ground and a Hockey Ground, and thepanoramic view from what masquerades as a press box is a real steal.From 70/3, Hemanth and Madanagopal added 65 for the fourth wicket,the two looking in control and firmly milking the singles with fivemen stationed on the boundary. Then Madanagopal played a foolhardyshot against the grain of play, lofting the ball in the air knowingfull well there was a fielder at sweeper cover. Robin walked in at135/4 and was warned for running onto the wicket almost immediately.He put that behind him and added a brisk 110 for the fifth wicket withHemanth. The latter grew more innovative in his stroke play in Robin’sreassuring company, stepping two inches outside off stump andpersuading the ball away on the leg side on more than one occasion.All hell broke loose in the 44th over bowled by Dinesh Mongia, whichwent for 20 runs including two sixes over midwicket, Hemanth movingfrom 90 to 110 in the space of five balls. Soon after, Robin holed outfor 44 (51 balls, 2 fours) to deep midwicket just after beingcautioned a second time for trespassing onto the pitch. The score atthat point was 245 but Hemanth coaxed another 30 runs in the companyof the tail, audaciously running byes more than once when the ball hadbeen collected by the keeper. When he was run out from the last ballof the innings, he had accumulated an effortless 134 (126 balls, 10fours, 2 sixes). Veeranan had the best figures among some badly mauledanalysis, taking 2/34 from seven overs, but Ganesh Kumar had done afine job too, bowling ten overs on the trot in the middle overs for ameasly 37, without taking a wicket.Having beaten Chemplast by eight wickets in the final of the KSCADiamond Jubilee tournament a few weeks ago, Pistons must haveexperienced a feeling of deja vu at this point. Sujit Somasundar andGanesh Kumar kept them on their toes with some fairly frenetic runningas the 50 came up in 40 minutes inside eight overs. Ganesh Kumar wasthe more adventurous of the two, once picking Shahabuddin overmidwicket for six.In the 11th over, Shahabuddin, who plays his cricket for Andhra in theRanji Trophy, had Ganesh caught behind by the keeper Vasudevan. Andthree runs later, in his next over, the disappointing Badrinath wasconsumed by first slip. Dinesh Mongia walked in with a weight ofresponsibility on his shoulders. Flailing wildly at one outside offstump, he was snapped up by Vasudevan for a fourth ball duck tocomplete a double wicket maiden for Shahabuddin, who had scalped threewickets in eight balls at this stage. Mongia’s fall must have sentpanic waves through the Chemplast dressing room and at 67/3, Pistonswould have been licking their lips in anticipation of the kill, whichhad been well fattened up.They had reckoned without one Jatin Paranjpe. He signalled hisintentions immediately by picking on R Satish, who had replacedShahabuddin from the Plaza end, for three boundaries in his firstover. Railways leg spinner WD Balaji Rao was generating good nip andbounce off the wicket with an action that exuded vitality but hecontrived to floor a return catch offered by Paranjpe with the batsmanon 44. To be sure, the ball was fiercely driven back at him and Raocould not close his fingers around the ball in a one-handed parry.To add injury to insult, he went off the field to receive treatment onhis finger. Then followed the kindergarten miss by Madanagopal and afrustrated Robin bowled a rank bouncer off the last ball of the over,promptly called no ball. Indeed the bowling and fielding completelywent to pieces in the end, with wides, no balls, byes, even a beamerfrom Shahabudin, and fumbles in the field abounding.Just outside the ground a group of 64 city probables were limbering upfor their forthcoming Under 19 tournament and Paranjpe scattered themwith two clean hits over midwicket that landed in their midst, almostdecapitating one unfortunate lad. He hit 21 off the over, the 36th, byMuthupandian and brought up his 100 off 81 balls with his fifth six,also in the same trademark fashion, this time off Balaji Rao.If Somasundar has been ignored for much of this chronicle, theoversight can be rectified here and now. Having accumulated his runswith stealth, Somasundar finally abandoned such a covert, eveninsidious, manner of run making for some more unabashed hitting. WhenRao tossed one up, he obligingly hit him over wide long off to enterthe nineties. Robin finally invited Hemanth for a bowl in a gesture ofsurrender. He bowled a short one that sat up and beseeched to be hit,Somasundar carted it way out of the ground to end the mismatch of acontest and take his individual score to 97 (129 balls, 9 fours and 3sixes). For his part Paranjpe had settled at a personal tally of 115(91 balls, 10 fours and 6 sixes).That brought down the curtain on a curious tournament in which neitherlast year’s winner MRF, nor runner-up, ONGC took part. The Moin udDowlah Cup was presented to Chemlpast captain D Vasu who promptlyraised it over his head with a violent gesture, only to watch inembarrassment as the cup rolled off its pedestal and plummeted to theground. But that was a minor and easily forgiven blemish in what wasotherwise a moment to savour for him and the entire Chemplast team.

England wicketkeeper Paul Nixon has said that Michael Vaughan will be fit to lead the team in their vital World Cup match against Kenya on Saturday. Vaughan tripped in a pot-hole on Tuesday and required treatment on his right knee, but concerns over another injury were quickly allayed.And Nixon, who was one of the six players fined after their late night before the Canada match, said: “Michael had a little trip on a sprinkler but he’s fine, he’s 100 percent.” Vaughan has twice looked in decent form with scores of 26 and 45 against New Zealand and Canada before throwing his wicket away on both occasions.Nixon, who has also been in strong batting form early in the tournament, is keen to put the issues of the past week behind him and move forward. “I think anything like this brings guys together,” he said. “There’s a lot of honesty and openness in the dressing room and that’s important going forward.”He also gave his version of events on that Friday night in St Lucia. “Obviously I’ve apologised to Duncan Fletcher for being out too late after a game and we’ve moved on as a team and Duncan’s accepted that. I had a reasonably quiet night but stayed out too long in the public domain. I’ve learnt my lesson, held my hands up, apologised and we’ll take it from there.”Cricket is a game that can kick you in the backside at any stage if you don’t stay focused and it’s important we stay focused and move forward from what’s happened. We’ve got to take every game as a huge event and try to win this World Cup.”England are now involved in a shoot-out with Kenya, who they play on Saturday, for the second qualifying spot alongside New Zealand that would see them into the second phase, Super Eight stage. Nixon said England could take heart from the way in which the Black Caps thrashed Kenya by 148 runs on Tuesday. “Every game is a tricky game. New Zealand and ourselves are very closely matched and we’ll be doing our homework.”

Suriname provided a major upset on the final day of the ICC Americas Division 2 Championship, not only beating odds-on favourites Bahamas, but doing so so convincingly that they leapfrogged them to the title and promotion to Division One.On the eve of the match, we wrote that “Suriname will need an extraordinarily comprehensive win to have any chance of overtaking the Bahamas”, and that’s just what happened. Needing only 83 to avoid being pipped to the title on net run rate even had they lost, Bahamas were utterly woeful as they crashed to 57 all out and a thumping 146-run defeat.Suriname did well to post 205, but on a good batting track it looked a below-par total. Shazam Ramjohn made 48 off 48 balls, but nobody else really dominated the attack. Bahamas’ reply was bemusing in its incompetence, with no batsman managing to reach double figures. Troy Dudnauth (5 for 21) and Carlton Baker (3 for 27) bowled unchanged for 20 overs, and by the time they finished their quota of overs the same was done and dusted.In the other game, Panama, who also finished level on points with Suriname and Bahamas, eased past Turks & Caicos Islands by 95 runs. In reply to Panama’s 188 all out, Turks & Caicos only managed 93. Panama’s Munaf Kachalia took the Man-of-the-Match award with 4 for 19, while Irfan Tarajia chipped in with 3 for 33 and 31 off 42 balls.

Former England coach Duncan Fletcher has slammed the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for organising an independent review of England’s 5-0 Ashes defeat in 2006-07. The ECB had commissioned former European golf director Ken Schofield to provide a report on the state of English cricket after the Ashes loss.In the latest extract in the from his autobiography, Behind the Shades, Fletcher defended England’s Test record during his tenure and questioned the need for a review after “one very poor series against one of the best teams in the history”.He was also unhappy about not being informed of the setting up of the review. “But nothing had prepared me for the thunderbolt with which Mike Atherton struck me after we had lost the final Test in Sydney. Doing an interview for Sky Sports he had asked me about an independent review which he had learnt was to be conducted into our defeat.”I knew nothing about it. This was a terrible way to find out. Nobody had the decency to tell me,” he said. “I can honestly say that was the lowest point of my cricketing career. I felt completely isolated.”Fletcher said he first contemplated retiring after a meeting with then ECB chairman David Morgan and ECB chief executive David Collier about the scope of the Schofield Report.”In Australia, a couple of days after the review’s announcement, I even had to phone Morgan and ECB chief executive David Collier for a meeting about it. When I questioned them they allowed me to look through their terms of reference. Some of them did not exactly give me a confidence boost. My mood sank a little lower.”I was a depressed man as I walked away from that meeting in Sydney with Morgan and Collier. For the first time resignation thoughts entered my mind. ‘Hold on, what’s going on here?’ I thought. ‘Is it really worth carrying on?'”Fletcher also said his perceived lack of communication was a result of the lack of confidentiality in his dealings with the ECB. “I would communicate a lot more if there was more confidentiality. I know there is none so I keep things to myself. Why talk if people are going to blab?”

What came as relief initially for both the teams now poses a serious threat to the third one-dayer. After the hot and sultry Dhaka, the teams are experiencing the other extreme. It has been raining here since the middle of Sunday night, with the intensity ranging from steady drizzle to heavy downpour.Both the teams practised at the indoor nets today. The weather forecast is nasty: a level-seven warning for winds from the Bay of Bengal has been issued, level ten being considered highly dangerous. Level seven is supposed to be a forecast for high winds and rain and the warning is expected to stay for three to four days. Even if it does stop raining, the groundsmen have a task on hand to get the ground ready for play on Tuesday. It will take at least three to four hours for the sun to single-mindedly beat down for the ground to be fit for play. The groundsmen have already started to worry about the Test due to start on May 18.The inclement weather promises to spoil Bangladesh’s last chance to live up to the expectations they had raised at the World Cup. ‘Playing for pride’ is a term much abused in sport. Every inconsequential match, every dead rubber is dubbed a defense of pride for the team who have already lost. For once, however, the phrase is relevant. When Bangladesh play India in the third ODI tomorrow, weather permitting, they will play for much more than recently-earned pride. They will also know this will be their last realistic chance to give Dav Whatmore a fitting farewell, unless they later do something they have never done against the more powerful teams – win a Test match. This is also Habibul Bashar’s last home one-dayer.It has taken Bangladesh a lot of time to make the world sit up and take notice. From hoping to not lose to believing they’d win to expecting to win has been one long journey. Now that the world has seen what they’re capable of, they would want a better result than 0-3 in the one-dayers. For most of the first match they dominated but contrived to somehow lose. Then, they didn’t quite bring their A game in the second one-dayer. Within three days, they showed both their quality and inconsistency.If the match doesn’t happen, Robin Uthappa and RP Singh, who last got a chance during the Champions Trophy in 2006, will also be disappointed. They’re set for their first opportunity in the series. For the two, this could also mean a last opportunity to impress ahead of tours to Ireland and England.Uthappa is supposed to bat at No.3 for India, which means Virender Sehwag will get another chance at the top of the innings. Rahul Dravid suggested he was worried about Sehwag getting good starts but not converting them into meaningful innings. “For someone of Sehwag’s calibre, we truly do believe that he should go all the way and play bigger innings,” Dravid said, “He is getting starts and he is not carrying on. That is definitely something we know that Sehwag should do. Sehwag himself knows that he must start converting those starts into meaningful contributions for the team.”Dinesh Mongia might end up being the one to make way for Uthappa. Mongia took three wickets in the first game but hasn’t impressed with the bat. Zaheer Khan will be rested and Sreesanth not risked ahead of the Test series and a busy season. Bangladesh have a few fitness problems, with Mohammad Ashraful hospitalised with fever, and Farhad Reza, his expected replacement, down with fever too. All this, of course, may not matter too much with the heavens threatening to open up and have the final word.Teams (likely)Bangladesh1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Javed Omar, 3 Habibul Bashar (capt), 4 Saqibul Hasan, 5 Farhad Reza, 6 Aftab Ahmed, 7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 8 Mohammad Rafique, 9 Abdur Razzak, 10 Shahadat Hossain, 11 Syed Rasel.India 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 MS Dhoni (wk), 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Rahul Dravid (capt), 7 Dinesh Karthik, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Ramesh Powar, 10 RP Singh, 11 Munaf Patel.