Pakistan wary of Bangladesh in Asia Cup
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)—Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq on Saturday
warned his teammates about the stiff challenge posed by Bangladesh ahead of
their clash in the opening match of the Asia Cup on Sunday.
He said his side would not make the mistake of taking Bangladesh lightly despite Pakistan’s
nearly perfect record against the hosts. Of the 29 matches between the sides, Pakistan has
lost just one, an ODI at the 1999 World Cup.
Watch now free live score Pakistan VS Bangladesh
“We don’t want to commit that mistake. Bangladesh is a difficult
opposition at home, because they know the condition very well,”
Misbah said.
“On their day they can upset you, so we will not take them lightly. We have to
put in our hundred percent, we really have to come out hard to win the game.”
He added that new Pakistan
coach Dav Whatmore, a former Bangladesh
coach, should be able to provide the tourists with details about the opposition
and the local conditions.
“He is already contributing, and of course he can give some input about the
Bangladeshi players,”
Misbah said. “But I think we are playing lots of cricket
against Bangladesh, we
played a series against them here in Dhaka. So
we are quite familiar with them.
“Both the teams know each other well, both the teams know strengths and
weaknesses of each other.”
He added that Pakistan
will pay particular attention to Bangladesh allrounder
Shakib Al
Hasan.
“Shakib is a key player, so we are focusing on him. But we are also focusing
on other players as well,” he said.
Meanwhile,
Shakib said dealing with Pakistan’s
spin attack would be the key challenge for Bangladesh.
“Handling Pakistan’s
spin attack is vital for us, and moreover their fast bowling unit is also good.
I think they have the best bowling unit of all the teams playing this
tournament,” Shakib said.
Despite Bangladesh’s
inconsistent performance against top teams, Shakib said the hosts will aim to
win every match at the tournament.
The Asia Cup also involves India
and
Sri Lanka.
Although Bangladesh was
whitewashed in its bilateral series against Pakistan earlier this year,
Shakib
remained confident of his side’s chances.
“We have the ability to bowl well against any big side in the world. We will
play every game to win,” he said. “We did not perform well in the last series
we played against Pakistan,
but this is a different tournament, and we are preparing well.”
Shakib said Bangladesh
could not practice much as a team before the Asia Cup, “but we have been
playing domestic cricket so the guys are confident.”
India has won the Asia
Cup five times while Sri
Lanka won it four times. Pakistan has
won it once.
Bangladesh: Imrul Kayes,
Tamim Iqbal, Nazimuddin, Jahurul Islam, Mushfiqur
Rahim (captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain,
Mashrafe binMortaza, Abdur Razzak, Elias Sunny, Nazmul Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Shahadat
Hossain, Anamul Haque.
Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Younis
Khan, Umar Akmal, Hammad Azam, Asad Shafiq,
Shahid Afridi, Azhar Ali, Sarfraz
Ahmed, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema,
Wahab Riaz
