Clinical Pakistan look to seal series (Preview)

After two outings against Pakistan, it would be safe to say that Bangladesh have the weakest batting among all international teams, Zimbabwe included. No doubt, they were up against a supremely confident and in-form bowling line-up, but there can’t be many excuses for the twin surrenders in space of just 72 hours. The lop-sided tour opening T20 was followed by another capitulation, thanks to some thoughtless Pakistan batting, the match that gave the visitors lead had a semblance of competitiveness towards its end.

Right now, Bangladesh need batsmen in real sense of the word. Against Pakistan spinners, the host batters look like mere pushovers. It seems they just can’t put bat to ball, thus two-digit team totals are more than expected and Pakistan have won despite losing half their team for 27 runs.

Another matter of discussion has been the nature of surfaces prepared in the series thus far. With Bangladesh struggling against quality spin, preparing tracks tailor-made for slower bowlers doesn’t make lot of sense. Even the Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim voiced this concern after the first ODI debacle. What is the fun of playing at home when you don’t even have the basic advantage of favorable playing surfaces?

The hosts’ batting woes apart, Pakistan have found a deadly bowling combination with the leading bowler in one-dayers Saeed Ajmal partnering Shahid Afridi, who can be unplayable on his day. Then there are Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, two support bowlers who also get crucial wickets. With the pace and guile of Umar Gul and Aizaz Cheema, Pakistan have a dream attack in the 50-over format.

However, Pakistan definitely need to improve their batting if they are to become a top flight side. As happened in the last match, their batting still retains that element of uncertainty. Despite ‘cool as cucumber’ Misbah present in the middle order, collapses have occurred at an alarming rate.

It would be a remarkable turnaround if Bangladesh are able to prevent their 21st consecutive loss to Pakistan in one-dayers, otherwise the visitors are on course for yet another bilateral series win this year.

Bangladesh Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (c & wk), Mahmudullah (vc), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Shakib Al Hasan, Alok Kapali, Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Abdur Razzak, Nazmul Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Elias Sunny, Farhad Reza, Shahriar Nafees.

Pakistan squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (c, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Abdul Razzaq, Asad Shafiq.