Opportunity for Salvi, Gambhir

On Friday afternoon, India will unveil another opening pair. While one half of the pair is a tested campaigner, the other is raw and, going by his domestic record, a bundle of talent.

On Friday afternoon here, India will unveil another opening pair. While one half of the pair is a tested campaigner, the other is raw and, going by his domestic record, a bundle of talent.

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Virender Sehwag needs no introduction as an opener and will be expected to destroy the Bangladesh bowling attack. However, the spotlight in the first match of the TVS Cup tri-series will be on his partner Gautam Gambhir.

A domestic dinosaur in gathering runs, Gambhir will have to prove his prowess under the big lights of the Bangabandhu Stadium in this day-night affair.

Gambhir might consider himself lucky that he is facing the acid test against Bangladesh. Even in their backyard, the likes of Tapas Baishya are not really expected to test the Indian batting reserve bench.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly has decided to come at No.3 and despite his troubled back should form the backbone of Indian batting. The No.3 spot is where he has flourished in the World Cup, albeit against the minnows, and Bangladesh should be able to provide him with just the stuff to notch up another big score.

Back trouble or no back trouble, Ganguly still has enough firepower to destroy the opposition attack when he hits the right gear. The Indian skipper said after practice on Thursday morning that the pitch here appears to be full of runs. He should be able to pocket quite a few after Sehwag has done his shopping.

On Friday at least, the absence of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid should not be felt.

Parthiv Patel - a passenger in the World Cup -- will be behind the stumps again, but will be keen to establish himself as a batsman.

As far as bowling is concerned, India plan to unleash another of their freshly-acquired weapons. Avishkar Salvi impressed with his wicket-taking abilities for India A in the Carib Beer series in the West Indies, and in the absence of Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra, he has been awarded with a berth in the India squad. On Friday, he will earn his first One-day International cap.

Salvi is expected to open the attack with Zaheer Khan.

India's bench strength will have a chance to prove itself and as skipper Ganguly said, it is a chance they should not let go by.

Abhijit Kale, Sanjay Bangar, Sarandeep Singh and Amit Mishra will not play the match on Friday.

Bangladesh skipper Khaled Mahmud, a veteran seamer, agreed that although India are not in full strength, they are still quite formidable. "The new players have obviously performed well in India's domestic circuit. They are here because they are considered among the best, Mahmud, who took over from

Khaled Mashud after a disastrous World Cup, said.

Mahmud is under no illusions and marked India as the overwhelming favourites. However, he promised that the home team would not go down without a fight.

With the gate sales not really hitting the skies, a decent fight from Bangladesh will be good for the tournament.

But then, history shows that not much should be expected from this team. They were lucky to return from the World Cup with two points from a rained-off game against the West Indies. Here, the skies are clear.

To get points from their first game, the hosts will have to depend on their skills rather than the elements.

India made a mockery of Bangladesh's challenge in the first-ever Test played between the two side here almost two years ago. While India have gone from strength to strength, Bangladesh seem to have taken a few steps backwards.

Changing coaches and captains has yielded little result and even though Ganguly insisted that the hosts should not be taken lightly, it might well be a Herculean task for them on Friday evening.

The third team, South Africa, does not come into the picture before Sunday.