Pakistan are confident of a 2-0 rout of struggling Bangladesh with another solid all-round performance in the second and final Test starting in Dhaka on Saturday. The tourists toyed with Bangladesh in the opening Test, racing to an innings and 184-run victory with more than a day to spare in Chittagong on Monday. Misbah-ul-Haq’s side won after dismissing Bangladesh for a paltry 135 in the first innings on the first day of the match on a good batting pitch.
Pakistan’s batsmen dominated the mediocre Bangladeshi attack to help their team post a mammoth 594-5 declared, with Younis Khan hammering an unbeaten double-century and Mohammad Hafeez and Asad Shafiq each scoring a hundred.
Pakistan’s bowlers never allowed the Bangladeshi batsmen to build a big partnership in the match, bowling the hosts out for 275 in the second innings. Left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman emerged the most successful bowler with seven wickets in the match, while off-spinner Saeed Ajmal and pacemen Umar Gul and Aizaz Cheema also kept pressure on Bangladesh.
Pakistan, who arrived in Bangladesh fresh from their success in all formats of the game against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates, will be keen to extend their impressive run. “The confidence comes from performances. When you are performing as a team and performing well, the confidence keeps building. This is really helping us as a team,” said Misbah. “We will play with the same intensity. We want to put everything right in batting, bowling and fielding. We want to improve our performance.”
Bangladesh need to put in improved batting and bowling performances if they want to avoid their eighth successive Test defeat against Pakistan since 2001.
The hosts dropped former captain and middle-order batsman Mohammad Ashraful, who scored one and zero in the first Test, and named fast bowler Shafiul Islam in place of injured Rubel Hossain.
Batting was Bangladesh’s main worry in the last Test, with debutant opener Mohammed Nazimuddin alone giving a good account of himself with a defiant 31 in the first innings and 78 in the second. “Our main target is to put in an improved batting performance. We are planning to bat session by session,” said Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim. “If we can score a good total then our bowlers will have better opportunity to defend it. Our batting should have been better in the first Test and I hope our batsmen would learn from the mistakes.” The hosts expect more from their specialist batsmen like Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Rahim in a bid to test Pakistan.
Bangladesh (from): Mushfiqur Rahim (capt), Mohammad Mahmudullah, Tamim Iqbal, Mohammed Nazimuddin, Shahriar Nafees, Shakib Al Hasan, Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Elias Sunny, Shahadat Hossain, Sohrawardi Shuvo, Robiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Shafiul Islam.
Pakistan (from): Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Adnan Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Mohammad Talha, Aizaz Cheema, Mohammad Khalil.
