Bangladesh team and for this we have to play our best cricket.”
Pakistan were struck by quite a few injuries during the Bangladesh series but for the Tests, their attack seems a lot more settled - Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Imran Khan, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah. Misbah felt that the spinners would have a crucial role to play in Khulna, and that perhaps three fast bowlers were not required.
Ajmal, who has been far less effective after his remodeled bowling action, could be left out for the first Test, but both Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar were seen making the most of the time during training.
“Obviously everybody knows he (Ajmal) is back after a long time and definitely he needs some time to adjust,” Misbah said. “He has only played three games after remodeling his action so he is definitely going to take little bit of time. He actually needs time to adjust with his new action and he’s definitely is going to improve,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim is looking forward to the challenge of playing Pakistan in Tests.
“I will try to continue how we played in the ODIs and T20 but Test cricket isn’t going to be easy. They are the No 4 team in the world, so it becomes a different challenge for us. They have included some experienced players. So it is not pressure, but expectation. I think that works for our players because it brings the best out of them. They are confident and ready for hard work.
Mushfiqur doesn’t want to go into the Test series with a draw in mind, and took a dig at critics who he said complain about the opposition when Bangladesh does well.
“Nobody plays Test cricket to draw or lose. We hadn’t won in 16 years against Pakistan. A lot of people would say that their team wasn’t that good. Those of us who played in the middle exactly know how hard it was to score runs. It is quite natural that when we score runs, everyone says it is an easy attack and when we don’t, they say we can’t score runs against a weak attack.”