'Pitches in Bangladesh will suit us' - Ramdin

Denesh Ramdin, the West Indies wicketkeeper, believes that the presence of two attacking spinners in their line-up on pitches similar to the ones in the Caribbean will give West Indies useful attacking options in the two-Test series which begins in Dhaka on November 13.

"The pitches here are similar to a lot of pitches back in the Caribbean. Slow and the ball spins a bit," Ramdin said. "It will be to our advantage with Sunil Narine and Veerasammy Permaul, who's on debut. If we go into the Test with two spinners, we'll have to try and bowl them out."

This is West Indies' third full tour to Bangladesh, having won the Test series in 2002 and 2011. On the first occasion, a four-man pace attack was enough to see off the hosts who were only in their third year of playing Test cricket. Last year, Fidel Edwards hurried the batsmen throughout the series but in the crucial second innings of the second Test, legspinner Devendra Bishoo took a five-for to finish off Bangladesh. This time West Indies not only have Narine and Permaul, but also the likes of Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Narsingh Deonarine.

"It is a good pitch at the stadium here [Mirpur, the venue of the first Test]. The bowlers will give us the wickets, Sunil Narine will be playing here for the first time. The pitches here will assist him and hopefully he'll continue where he left off against New Zealand," Ramdin said.

The tourists, who arrived on Monday morning, will hold their first training session on Wednesday. They play a three-day practice match against the BCB XI from Thursday at the BKSP ground - West Indies' first longer-format match in three months. However, unseasonal rain threatens the start of the game.

"We have to take the batting practice in the three-day game and adapt to the conditions. I believe the guys have the capability of playing long innings. All of us have to go out there and express ourselves and get runs for the team," he said.

"We would like to win the series 2-0, but it all depends on the weather and how the practice game goes."

Ramdin mentioned that his finger injury, suffered while batting in a three-day practice match against Sagicor High Performance Centre on October 31, is healing after seven days of rehabilitation.

The West Indies team has had a good year and after noticeable performances against Australia at home and in England, they beat New Zealand 2-0 in the Test series at home. The return of players like Chris Gayle has also added potency to the once fragile top order and with the recent win in the World Twenty20, expectations run high.

"It is very important that we keep that momentum going," he said. "We have played a lot of one-dayers and T20s in the past three months. It is very important that we start well. We have a number of good players back in the team like Chris Gayle, who scored a century against New Zealand.

"Marlon Samuels did well, so did Sunil Narine. The experienced guys like Shiv Chanderpaul are here, hopefully these guys can give us the impetus to do well in the series."