KARACHI : Buoyed up by their series-winning triumphs in all three formats of the
game against Sri Lanka in the UAE, Pakistan will be eyeing a
comprehensive win against Bangladesh in Dhaka on today when they open a
month-long tour with a one-off Twenty20 International.Pakistan
landed in Dhaka just a day after beating better-ranked Sri Lanka in the
three-match series (1-0) and five-match One-day International series
(4-1) before winning their one-off Twenty20 game in Abu Dhabi last
Friday.Compared to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh are likely to be easier
opponents but the Pakistanis are wary of the threat their lower-ranked
hosts can pose at times to visiting teams.Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has warned his players against taking Bangladesh for granted."It
would be a big folly on our part to think we can walk over Bangladesh.
We are playing a full series in Bangladesh after a long time and I have
told the players to treat the series as a top ones because there will be
lot of pressure on us," said the seasoned batsman ahead of the
series-opening Twenty20 encounter.However, the fact is that
Pakistan will begin the match as overwhelming favourites. They have a
hundred percent record against Bangladesh having won all the four
Twenty20 Internationals played between the two teams.While
Pakistan, who won the World Twenty20 title in England in 2009, are one
of the top teams in the fastest format of the game, Bangladesh have
never beaten a top-flight team other than West Indies in T20 cricket.The
good news for Bangladeshi supporters is that the home team thrashed
West Indies in a similar tour-opening Twenty20 game recently."West
Indies were favourites against us as we don't usually play Twenty20s.
At the end of the day, we bowled well and despite a hiccup in batting we
finished as winners," said Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh captain.Rahim warned Pakistan that his team will go all out for wins rather than just respectable losses against them in the series."I
think Bangladesh cricket has crossed that barrier where we aim for a
respectable loss against a big team," Mushfiqur said. "That mentality is
not there within this group of players. We play to win every game
against whichever team. "They're the favourites no doubt but if we play
our best cricket, it won't be easy to beat us in any of the formats," he
stressed.Squads:Pakistan (likely): Mohammad Hafeez,
Imran Farhat, Asad Shafiq, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Umar Akmal (wk),
Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Aizaz Cheema, Umar Gul, and
Saeed Ajmal.Bangladesh (likely): Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Alok
Kapali, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (captain & wk),
Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain,
and Shafiul Islam.
