‘Want to keep Rubel fit for ODIs’

Even after failing to take a single Indian wicket on Day 1 of the one-off Test, Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha on Wednesday defended the team management’s decision of not including pacer Rubel Hossain in the playing XI on the pretext of keeping him fit of the ODIs.

Electing to bat, India finished the rain-hit day on 239 for no loss with Shikhar Dhawan (150 not out) and Murali Vijay 89 not out) blunting the Bangladesh attack, which consists of four specialist spinners in Shakib Al Hasan, Taijul Islam, Jubair Hossain and Shuvagata Hom. “Rubel’s thing is that he is coming after an injury and is not hundred per cent. The other reason is that this wicket, we thought that if Rubel has to play and has to bowl a lot then there is a chance of a recurrence of his injury because he didn’t get a chance to play practice matches,” the coach said at the end of first day’s play here.

“Not that he is not fit, he is not to fit to bowl on this kind of a wicket because you need a lot of effort to bowl on this kind of a wicket to be successful. If the wicket was helping fast bowlers, we could have gone in a different way.”

Hathurusingha insisted that it was better to preserve Rubel for the three-match ODI series rather than playing him on this kind of a pitch. “The reason to pick the spinners is again because of the condition of the wicket. The other thing is having a variety of spinners taking the Indian team’s history for last few series.”