Dravid asks team-mates not to take Bangladesh lightly

Port-of-Spain, Mar 15 (UNI) Indian captain Rahul Dravid has asked his boys not to lower their guards against Bangladesh in their opening World Cup match on Saturday.

''We saw what they did against New Zealand. We have to give respect to them, we can not be complacent,'' Dravid said.

Bangladesh had surprised dark horses New Zealand in their first warm-up game.

The skipper said India would approach the match against their eastern neighbours at the Queen's Park Oval like a final.

''We are expected to do well in the tournament. I want my boys to put out a clinical performance,'' he said.

Dravid reminded his boys that in one-dayers ICC rankings did not matter and any team, who play better on a particular day, could win.

''West Indies win against Pakistan in the lung opener proves that rankings do not count on the field because Pakistan are higher then the Caribbeans in the ICC leaderboard. It means performance of the team on the particular day counts.'' India go into their opening World Cup match on a confident note after recording impressive wins against the Netherlands and the West Indies in the warm-up games.

Dravid had promised a good showing by his team, saying ''We are a well balanced side and confident of living up to the expectations.'' He had also promised a beeter performance on the field besides asking the lower order to chip in with some useful contribution.

''I am expecting some good runs from the bowlers also.

Harbhajan Singh has made some useful runs and so has Ajit Agarkar. Zaheer proved his usefulness with the bat in South Africa,'' he had said.

UNI