May 25, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 08, 1428

DHAKA, May 24: India's bowling spearhead Anil Kumble is fit to torment Bangladesh as the tourists seek a series win when the second and final Test starts here on Friday.

The 36-year-old, India's most successful bowler in both forms of the game with 547 Test and 337 one-day wickets, did not bat or bowl in the rain-savaged first Test in Chittagong due to fever.

India lean so heavily on the veteran for wickets that the other bowlers allowed Bangladesh's ninth-wicket pair of Mashrafe Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain to put on 77 and save the follow-on, and with it the Test.

“Anil is a proven match-winner in any conditions,” said Indian captain Rahul Dravid ahead of the decider at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, a new Test venue.

Both teams were praying for a rain-free match after bad weather in the port city of Chittagong wiped off 15 of the stipulated 30 hours of play in the drawn game.

“It is very frustrating when you lose half the match to rain,” said Dravid.

“There is little one can do about the weather but I just hope we get some good cricket in.”

The teams will not be spared the stifling hot and humid weather which they have endured for the entire three-week tour, but can rely on good drainage facilities at the venue in case of rain.

“This ground dries up much faster than at Chittagong,” said Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar. “There is some forecast of rain but I think we can have a full game.”

Bangladesh hope to put on a sterling display as a farewell gift for coach Dav Whatmore, who ends his four-year tenure with them after this match and is a leading candidate to sign up with India.

The Indian cricket board is due to meet on June 4 to pick a successor to Greg Chappell, the former Australian captain who quit as India's coach after the World Cup.

“The boys are very encouraged and motivated to do well in this match,” said Habibul.

Bangladesh's fortunes rest on Mashrafe, the gifted 23-year-old who was deservedly named Man of the Match in Chittagong for his 4-97 in India's first innings and a match-saving 79 with seven boundaries and three sixes.

New ball partner Shahadat Hossain chipped in with five wickets and a career-best 31 with the bat.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh have called pace bowler Mohammad Sharif into their squad.

“He has been recalled as one of the two seamers who played in the first Test in Chittagong has some fitness problems,” chief selector Faruk Ahmed told reporters on Thursday.

Faruk did not say whether the concerns over fitness were for Mashrafe or Shahadat.

Sharif, 23, has played eight Tests and claimed 14 wickets. His last Test appearance was against Pakistan in Chittagong in 2002.

India, for whom veterans Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly hit centuries, may retain the same side despite opener Wasim Jaffer's horrific first-over zeroes in both innings.

“Wasim is very keen to do well here,” said Dravid. “It's not fair to judge someone by one match, he has done so well in the past.”

Teams (from):

BANGLADESH: Habibul Bashar (captain), Mohammad Ashraful, Javed Omar, Shahriar Nafees, Saqibul Hasan, Rajin Saleh, Tushar Imran, Khaled Mashud, Mohammad Rafique, Enamul Haque Jr, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Mehrab Hossain, Mohammad Sharif.

INDIA: Rahul Dravid (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Anil Kumble, R.P. Singh, Zaheer Khan, V.R.V. Singh, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Ishant Sharma.

Umpires: Daryl Harper (Australia) and Billy Doctrove (West Indies).

TV umpire: Nadir Shah (Bangladesh).

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka).—Agencies