The 20-year-old left-handed middle-order batsman who also bowls decent left-arm spin has already made his presence felt in the shorter version of the game in his 31 appearances with the ability to steady the innings.

There is another uncapped player in opener Mehrab Hossain who is included in the 12-member squad but the left-hander has a very slim chance to play his first Test as middle-order batsman Rajin Saleh has been considered as the best option because of him being more experienced.

The match will start at 10am with state-run Bangladesh Television and NEO Sport beaming the live coverage from the port city venue where the Tigers played their last game against Australia in April 2006.

There is a huge gap in strength between the sides as India, already having won the one-day series 2-0, have a number of big names in highest run-getter Sachin Tendulkar, former captain Saurav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and captain Rahul Dravid, acclaimed as 'The Wall'.

The visitors also have leg-spinner Anil Kumble who can make the difference in a pitch likely to help the spinners.

Habibul Bashar's men have so far played three Tests including the historic inaugural Test match against India, all at the home where they lost all of them badly.

They suffered innings defeats in both the matches in 2004 but there was only silver lining as the batting of now Bangladesh vice-captain Mohammad Ashraful who smashed unbeaten 158, the highest individual score of a Bangladeshi batsman, interestingly at the same city but at the MA Aziz Stadium.

Since the elevation into the highest level in 2000, Bangladesh hold a very poor record with only one victory and four draws in their 44 appearances but they can take inspiration from a match in their last series where they pushed the invincible Australians in the first Test at Fatullah. Ricky Ponting's side made a great escape with a three-wicket victory.

Although Bangladesh have almost settled their final eleven, India have decided to announce the team this morning.

TEAMS
BANGLADESH (from): Habibul Bashar (captain), Mohammad Ashraful, Javed Omar, Shahriar Nafees, Shakib Al Hasan, Rajin Saleh, Khaled Mashud (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Enamul Haque, Shahadat Hossain and Mehrab Hossain.

INDIA (from): Rahul Dravid (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Mahendra Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, VRV Singh, Munaf Patel, Rudra Pratap Singh, Anil Kumble, Ramesh Powar and Rajesh Pawar.

Umpires: Daryl Harper and Billy Doctrove.