Pakistan have enjoyed a brilliant run of success ever since Misbah-ul-Haq was handed over reins of the team in all the three formats. Despite many off-field distractions, the men in green have kept their focus to emerge victorious in almost all the series’ after the 2011 World Cup. On away tours to West Indies and Zimbabwe, Pakistan returned with a rich haul of trophies and against Sri Lanka on neutral territory, they made a clean sweep across all the formats.
Their latest assignment kicks off with a T20 international at Mirpur followed by the ODIs and Tests. In UAE, Pakistan overcame Sri Lanka on pitches that are similar to the ones in Bangladesh with a world-class bowling attack, something Bangladesh will have to prepare for. More than their talented fast bowlers, Pakistan would be banking on the army of spinners to restrict Bangladesh batsmen because the playing surfaces are expected to be spin-friendly. The two A’s-Ajmal and Afridi are bowling as well as anybody, it wouldn’t be surprising if the duo return with bag full of wickets.
On the contrary, Bangladesh have had some tough times in recent past. After losing to Australia on home, they were comprehensively beaten by Zimbabwe which resulted in sacking of Shakib Al Hasan from the captaincy. Mushfiqur Rahim was appointed the new skipper but that didn’t help either as West Indies got better of them in the ODI as well as the Test series at home. Despite Rahim leading from the front with the bat, Bangladesh have struggled to string together good performances consistently.
The only notable result going in their favour during this period was the thrilling last over victory over West Indies in the lone T20 international. Given that short nature of the format allows teams to win with just one or two sparkling performances, Bangladesh will hope to catch Pakistan off-guard. Otherwise, the result is not hard to predict if the visitors’ imperious form is taken unto consideration.
Bangladesh Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (Capt & wk), Mahmudullah (vice-capt.), 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 (Capt), 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.
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