Pakistan’s successful combination of captain Misbah-ul-Haq and coach Mohsin Khan have cautioned their players against being complacent while taking on Bangladesh in a series starting November 29 with a Twenty20 in Dhaka.
“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 one because there will be lot of pressure on us,” Misbah said before his departure from Abu Dhabi to Dhaka. Mohsin supported the captain’s argument pointing out that the home support for Bangladesh is always very strong and visiting teams in the past had struggled to do well there. “Playing Bangladesh in Bangladesh is never easy. The team has done extremely well against Sri Lanka but there is still room for lot of improvement. We now take every match day by day and try to improve and that is the formula we will follow in Bangladesh,” Mohsin said. Misbah said Bangladesh had a couple of world class players in Shakib ul Hasan, opener Tamim Iqbal and spinner Abdul Razzak. “They are a young side and they can upset us. The pressure will be on us to perform and win so this series in a way will be tougher than the one we played against Sri Lanka,” he said. The Pakistan skipper said he had told the young players in the side to do their best and use the Bangladesh series to give better performances with the bat and ball.
Misbah backed the stringent steps taken by the Board and the team management to enforce strict discipline in the team. “After all that Pakistan cricket has been through these steps are necessary. At times it is hard but it is for our best. In a way the problems and scandals that hit us since last year have only made us stronger and there is stronger bonding in the team and the desire to win consistently,” he said.
