Opportunity for fringe players to prove their worth

Only 14 hours after the 2000th one-day international concludes, the 2001st will get under way as Dhaka plays host to the TVS Cup - yet another triangular tournament featuring one team which exceeded all expectations at the World Cup, and two which flopped badly.

Not surprisingly, most of India's senior players have preferred to rest their weary bodies rather than slog through another ODI series. The absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra means that India will be without most of their World Cup stars - Tendulkar and Dravid made 41% of the total runs scored off the bat for India, while Srinath and Nehra took 31 of the 82 wickets.

All this also means an exciting opportunity for some fringe players to prove their worth at the international level. Importantly, the new incumbents are all fresh from a successful stint with India's A team in the West Indies: Gautam Gambhir and Abhijit Kale collected a bagful of runs, while Avishkar Salvi and Amit Mishra were the leading wicket-takers. Salvi was especially impressive with his ability to generate pace and bounce on the slow West Indian wickets. The lack of strong reserve strength has for long been the bane of Indian cricket - so if the current crop of youngsters put in a strong performance, India could gain plenty from a seemingly meaningless one-day tournament.

The Indians will also be helped by the conditions in Dhaka, which are no different from those they experience at home. Sourav Ganguly did mention, though, that the absence of Andrew Leipus, the physiotherapist, will be keenly felt: "It will be hot there so we needed a physio like him." Fortunately for the teams, all the matches will be played under lights.

If the tournament presents India with an opportunity to build towards a bright future, then for South Africa it's a chance to make a break from the past. Graeme Smith, 22, takes charge of a team which is still trying to shake off the legacy of the Hansie Cronje era. "My job is to instill freshness in the team," said Smith, who made it clear that he wanted to distance himself and his team from the Cronje phase: "I never played with Cronje and so have no memories of him. That age is over."

Brave words those, but South Africa have the onerous task of filling the formidable void left by the retirements of Allan Donald, Jonty Rhodes and Gary Kirsten, and the absence of Lance Klusener and Nicky Boje. To make matters worse, Jacques Kallis was forced to withdraw to attend to his ailing father, though he is expected to join the tour later.

The inclusion, finally, of the hugely talented left-hander Jacques Rudolph - one of six new faces outside the original World Cup squad - is a step in the right direction. Smith's biggest test, though, will be his ability to carry along the remaining senior members in the party - Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher and Herschelle Gibbs.

Bangladesh, who face India in the first match on Friday, are the third team in the contest, and barring a miracle, are likely to exit from the competition long before the final. Despite a miserable World Cup, where their only points came from a washed-out game, Bangladesh have included only one new face for this tournament - 20-year-old medium-pacer Tareq Aziz. That they have been forced to revert to tried-and-tested failures - Akram Khan, Mehrab Hossain and Javed Omar all make a comeback - indicates the lack of talent in their cupboard.

The Bangladesh board did the inevitable by sacking their captain and coach, but the results with Khaled Mahmud at the helm are likely to be little different from those that his predecessor, Khaled Masud, experienced.

Squads Bangladesh: Javed Omar, Mehrab Hossain, Mohammad Ashraful, Habibul Bashar, Khaled Mahmud (capt), Akram Khan, Alok Kapali, Tushar Imran, Khaled Masud (wk), Sanwar Hossain, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya, Manjural Islam, Tareq Aziz, Talha Jubair.

India: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Abhijit Kale, Dinesh Mongia, Parthiv Patel (wk), Sanjay Bangar, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Amit Mishra, Aavishkar Salvi, Sarandeep Singh.

South Africa: Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith (capt), Boeta Dippenaar, Neil McKenzie, Jacques Kallis, Jacques Rudolph, Andrew Hall, Mark Boucher (wk), Shaun Pollock, Robin Peterson, Paul Adams, Allan Dawson, Charl Willoughby, Mahkaya Ntini.