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Mahmud hopes for a turnaround

SPORTS REPORTER
The Khaled Mahmud era begins for Bangladesh when the hosts take on India
in the inaugural match of the TVS Cup tri-nation series 2003 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today.
The day-night affair is scheduled for a 2pm start with ESPN-Star Sports and Bangladesh Television providing live coverage.
South Africa, the other side in the series, will play their opening match of the two-tier robin league against India on Sunday.
This will be the first international outing for both Bangladesh and India after the World Cup in South Africa. Bangladesh, who lost five matches out of six in the Cup, are desperately looking forward to a much-improved display against the powerful Indians.
The home side will also hoping to break their 32-match losing streak. In their previous 67 ODI appearances, Bangladesh have won only three matches and lost 63. Two matches were abandoned. Their last win came against Pakistan at Northamptonshire in May 31 during the 1999 World Cup.
Bangladesh's record against India is understandably unimpressive. Bangladesh have lost all of their eight matches so far. The last meeting between the two teams was in Asia Cup in Dhaka in May 2000 where the Indians won by eight wickets.
Although the World Cup finalists India, who will be without five experienced players including Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, Mahmud still thought they were the tournament favourites.
Talking to The Daily Star Sport yesterday at the team's hotel, the new Bangladesh skipper said that Indians boasted batsmen like Saurav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia.
"Besides, most of them are allrounders also. So, you cannot say they
are a weak side," said Mahmud.
He revealed that his team's approach would be positive on the field.
Mahmud also said that they were yet to name the playing eleven since they had to decide the number three batting slot.
"We have to choose between Habibul Bashar and Tushar Imran," he said.
It was learnt that Mohammad Ashraful and Mehrab Hossain would open followed by Tushar Imran or
Habibul Bashar. Alok Kapali is set to bat at number four followed by Akram Khan and Sanwar Hossain. Mahmud will come in at number seven.
Mahmud revealed that he would certainly bat if he won the toss and try to score around 230.
"Our first target will be to cross the 200-mark because our scores have been in the 180s for last few matches. We have to cross this mind-barrier and bat for a good total."
While Mahmud was putting up a brave face, his Indian counterpart Saurav Ganguly was looking forward to seeing his young guns perform in the Dhaka tournament.
"We need a good start since this is our first match after the World Cup. There are some youngsters in the side who are really hungry to show their mettle. Hopefully they would take this tournament as a platform to perform so that they can be part of the full strength Indian team in the future," said Ganguly adding that young opener Gautam Gambhir and pacer Aaviswhker Salvi were set to made their debut on Friday.
Ganguly also disclosed that Gambhir and Sehwag would open and he would bat at number three.
About the wicket, Saurav thought that it was a typical Dhaka wicket that would produce a lot of runs.
Though the dashing left-hander agreed that Bangladesh were weaker opponents but he assured that his team would not take them lightly.
Both teams had their final practice yesterday. The Indian team had more than two-hour nets in the morning while Bangladesh trained in the evening under lights.
PROBABLE SQUADS
BANGLADESH: Mohammad Ashraful, Mehrab Hossain, Tushar Imran, Alok Kapali, Akram Khan, Sanwar Hossain, Khaled Mahmud (captain), Khaled Mashud, Mohammad Rafique, Tapas Baishya and Monjurul Islam.
INDIA: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Saurav Ganguly (captain), Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Parthiv Patel, Zaheer Khan,
Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar and Aavishker Salvi.
Umpires: Mahbubur Rahman (Bangladesh) and Aleem Darr (Pakistan)
TV umpire: Shawkatur Rahman (Bangladesh)