October 06, 2008	Monday	Shawwal 06, 1429

DHAKA, Oct 5: New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said on Sunday that Bangladesh remained a “formidable” team at home despite an exodus of players to a rebel Indian Twenty20 league.

Vettori, who is leading the Black Caps on a tour to Bangladesh that includes two Tests and three one-day matches, said the hosts were not weakened after the recent defection of seven international players to the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

“I think from my understanding the only player missing from the team is Aftab Ahmed,” Vettori told reporters. “The rest of the team remains pretty much what we faced in New Zealand earlier in the year. So we are facing a similar side.”

Aftab is among a total of 13 players who were banned by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for 10 years for defecting to the rebel league bankrolled by an Indian television company.

Vettori also sought to downplay the poor Test record of the minnows and said his side were expecting a tough challenge from the hosts in home conditions.

Bangladesh have won just one of their 53 Tests while losing 47 and drawing five.

“With Shahadat Hossain, [Mashrafe] Mortaza and Abdur Razzaq, they have a nice bowling line-up. In their own conditions, they’re going to be a formidable opposition,” Vettori said.

“If you look at players at individual level, we know they’ve got some guys who’ve performed at the world stage.”

Bangladesh have called up six rookies in a list of 24 probables to shore up their depleted resources but have delayed naming the squad until they play a warm-up match against the visitors on Tuesday.

The two teams will play their first two one-day matches on Oct 9 and 11 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, with the last one slated for October 14 in the port city of Chittagong.

The first Test will be held in Chittagong from Oct 17 followed by the second at Mirpur from Oct 25.

New Zealand squad: Daniel Vettori (captain), Grant Elliott, Daniel Flynn, Gareth Hopkins, Jamie How, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Aaron Redmond, Iain O’Brien, Scott Styris, Mark Gillespie.—AFP