Impressed with the new-look Indian team, Bangladesh vice-captain and dashingwillower Mohmmad Ashraful said the visiting side is high on quality.
Drawing a comparison between the present Indian team and the one that touredBangladesh in 2004, Ashraful said the current lot was a more youthful one.
"There are several young players, new faces. But this team is also highon quality," Ashraful said in an exclusive interview.
While appreciating the youthful nature of the Indian team, Ashraful did notforget to mention one old warhorse in the rival squad he idolises the most.
Admiring Sourav Ganguly for his leadership qualities, Ashraful said theformer Indian captain was a tough cricketer.
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"He is a tough man. He is tough as captain, and the toughness also showsin his batting," he said.
"The Indian team did really well in the five years he was at the helm ofaffairs. He is a top performer," said Ashraful, who has played 34 Tests and101 ODIs for Bangladesh.
However, Ashraful shied away from making any comparison between Ganguly andcurrent Indian skipper Rahul Dravid.
"It will not be proper. They have their own styles. And I don't want toget into any controversy," he said.
Ashraful felt Indian cricket would only gain if the BCCI managed to rope inDav Whatmore as chief coach of the national team.
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Describing Whatmore as a "good coach", Ashraful said the Australianwas well-versed with Asian conditions and the mentality of the players of theregion after working as a coach for 11 years -- first with Sri Lanka and thenwith Bangladesh.
"I think India will gain if it got Whatmore. He was with us for fouryears, he knows a lot about world cricket. He is a good coach," Ashrafulsaid.
"He was with Sri Lanka for seven years and four years with us. He knowsthe Asian mindset very well."
Ashraful said his own team benefited a lot from Whatmore's coaching.
"During the last two-three years, we have improved a lot and he hascontributed significantly," he added.
Asked if he had become a better player himself, Ashraful said "the goodthing about Whatmore is that if any player is going through bad time then (Whatmore)would encourage him to find out his fault himself. He was never toooverbearing".
Spelling out Whatmore's qualities, Ashraful said "he can inculcateself-belief and self-respect in players".
On whether Bangladesh faced any problems as Whatmore belonged to a differentculture and spoke a different language, the Bangladesh bat said"never".
Whatmore is the front runner for the India job after Greg Chappell opted notto renew his contract post-World Cup.
PTI
