September 9, 2003	Tuesday	Rajab 11, 1424

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MULTAN, Sept 8: Bangladesh, despite being whitewashed in the Test series, go into the One-day International series at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Tuesday in a better frame of mind after Pakistan were deprived of the services of their captain Rashid Latif.

Rashid was banned for five-match one-day rubber against the tourists when ICC match referee Mike Procter found him guilty of bringing the game into disrepute for his role in the controversial catch during Bangladesh’s second innings of the final Test on Friday.

The Pakistan skipper appealed “successfully” after taking a tumbling catch offered by Bangladesh batsman Alok Kapali off medium pacer Yasir Ali which was upheld by the umpire. TV replays, however, clearly showed that Rashid had dropped the ball but claimed the catch.

Inzamam-ul-Haq has been appointed captain for the series in the absence of Rashid and leads Pakistan for the first time in front of his home crowd, having previously led the country to two one-day victories on the tour of Zimbabwe late last year.

With so much furore already raised over the diabolical selection of the 14-man squad, there is bound to be more surprises in store when the actual XI takes the field on Tuesday in what will the first-ever On-day International at this truly magnificent venue.

Bangladesh have not won a one-dayer since defeating Pakistan by 62 runs at Northampton (England) in the shock of the 1999 World Cup. They would dearly like to end a 39-match winless streak that has seen them lose 37 games, including a world record sequence of 23 successive matches.

Surprisingly, all three of Bangladesh’s victories have been achieved away from home where they have beaten in 27 of the 28 matches played.

Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud, not for the first time on this tour, promised to give a close fight in the one-dayers. “As I had said earlier, we have learnt a lot in the Test series. I can only say we would be trying hard to be as much competitive as possible.”

Mahmud is one of the three survivors of the teams that beat Pakistan four years ago in England. Wicketkeeper and former captain Khaled Mashud and Mohammad Rafique, the slow left-armer, also featured in that game .

Dav Whatmore, the Bangladesh coach, however, was more confident when on Monday he declared that his side will be aiming for a win. “Our goal is to get a victory on the board. We didn’t do that in the Test series but came close to it.

“In this different format of the game, we are obviously keen to do well. The morale of the side is okay since we have closed the door on the longer game (Test cricket) and we’re looking forward very much to the one-day series,” the 49-year-old Australian stressed.

Bangladesh have called up one-day specialists, batsman Tushar Imran, all-rounder Mushfiqur Rahman and pace bowler Hasibul Hossain into the squad, leaving out left-arm pacer Manjural Islam, opening batsman Javed Omar and medium-pacer Anwar Hossain.

The pitch, adjacent to the track on which the Test was played, appears to be flat with no hint of grass at all on the surface.

The teams had nets on Monday in hot and humid conditions. The forecast for Tuesday is the same.

Teams (from):

PAKISTAN: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Yousuf Youhana, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper), Shabbir Ahmed, Umar Gul, Junaid Zia, Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Danish Kaneria.

BANGLADESH: Khaled Mahmud (captain), Hannan Sarkar, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Sanwar Hossain, Tushar Imran, Mushfiqur Rahman, Khaled Mashud (wicket-keeper), Tapash Baisya, Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe bin Mortaza, Hasibul Hossain, Alamgir Kabir.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Russell Tiffin (Zimbabwe).

TV umpire: Nadeem Ghauri (Pakistan).

Match Referee: Mike Procter (South Africa).