Dhaka Tidbits

The captain of the Indian cricket team has decided to wear gloves that will have the colours of the national flag on it. Ganguly had embarked on such a plan during his stay in Calcutta. Accordingly, the gloves were ordered and they were delivered to him today at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel. The finger portion of the gloves consisted of the orange, white and green that make up the Indian flag. When asked to explain the reasons for taking such a decision, Ganguly said, "It is the nationalistic feeling that can really inspire a side. I would have used the same colours on the other cricket apparels. But because of sponsor obligations, I could not do the same."

The Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was present at the Bangabandhu Stadium here today from the first ball of the match itself. A cricket lover, the Prime Minister had cancelled all her engagements in the afternoon to watch Sourav Ganguly's team in action. However, rain played spoil sport. A dejected Prime Minister left saying that she had come to watch Ganguly as he is the first Bengali from India to lead a cricket side. In fact, the Bangladeshi Government have decided to honour Ganguly for his achievements in cricket. The date will be fixed according to availability of the Indian captain.

Aravinda de Silva at present is a happy man. He was probably under tremendous pressure when he went out to open the innings on Monday. At the end of the match, de Silva said, "I cannot remember, when I last opened the innings for my side. I had come back to the one-day side after a long gap. So basically, I was looking forward to cement my position in the side once more. Initially, I had a few problems in playing my shots. But then everything fell into place. The innings gave me a lot of satisfaction."

Ajay Jadeja saved the Indian team management from the embarrassment of having to rest a senior player to blood Tamil Nadu's Hemang Badani. Jadeja, who developed high fever declared himself unfit today and as a result there were no problems of including Badani in the side. Earlier, the team management was debating whether to rest Mohammed Azharuddin to include Badani in the side. Badani looked quite brilliant in the field during the 25 overs that India was in the ground today.

Sunil Gavaskar, who is here as a part of the Star Sports team, had to rush back to Kanpur on Monday night, because of the death of his father in law. Gavaskar left for Delhi late on Monday night and from there will be taking a car to Kanpur. His fellow commentators informed that he would try to return by Wednesday.