Gayle expects challenging Windies tour to Bangladesh

Kingston (Jamaica), Oct 15 (IANS): Veteran opening batsman Chris Gayle believes the forthcoming West Indies tour to Bangladesh of Test and limited overs matches will be challenging.

Gayle, who is in a 15-man squad named Saturday for the Nov 3 to Dec 12 tour which includes two Tests, five One-Day Internationals and a Twenty20 International, cautioned against complacency.

“It is going to be a very challenging one. We know how dangerous Bangladesh can be at home. It’s not a team where you want to go there and take lightly,” Gayle said.

A veteran of 93 Tests, 234 ODIs and 30 T20Is, Gayle noted, however, that the majority of the squad would have had a taste of conditions in Bangladesh.

“Most of the guys have been there before in Test series and in ODIs so most of the guys have experience, so it should be an interesting series.

“It’s not the easiest place to tour and get runs so you’ve got to be mindful of the conditions and try and add up as quickly as possible and settle as much and whenever you get a chance, just try and maintain it and take it from there,” the 33-year-old former West Indies captain said.

Nine members of the team — captain Darren Sammy, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kieran Powell, Marlon Samuels, Kemar Roach, Ravi Rampaul and Denesh Ramdin – toured Bangladesh last year when the West Indies won the three-match ODI series 2-1 and the two-Test rubber 1-0.

The squad includes one uncapped player in 23-year-old Guyana left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul.

Full squad: Darren Sammy (captain), Denesh Ramdin (vice-captain), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Kirk Edwards, Assad Fudadin, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieran Powell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels.