Pakistan v Bangladesh: 1st Test – Match Preview
Pakistan will take on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zahur-Ahmed-c98518 Stadium, Chittagong in Bangladesh on Friday, December 9, 2011.
The Men in Green have already whitewashed the one-off Twenty20 and the three match One Day International (ODI) series convincingly and will look to continue their winning momentum in the longest version of the game.
Conditions at the Chittagong stadium are expected to be suitable for the tourists, as the pitch offers plenty of spin.
Although Bangladesh’s spinners did a fabulous job in the final ODI of the series in Chittagong, batting failed miserably due to the fact that the Pakistani spinners were even better.
Considering this, the home side should look for another option rather than going for a spinner friendly wicket.
However, they did not learn their lesson throughout the limited-over leg and kept on producing wickets, which assisted the slower bowlers and are expected to do the same in the first Test of the series.
Pakistan’s skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 will be very much confident, heading into tomorrow’s match. He has lost just one Test since being given charge of the team in 2010 and is yet to lose a series in any format of the game.
The 37-year-old first led Pakistan in a two match Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033 (UAE).
Everyone expected the Proteas to crush the Men in Green comfortably, but the series ended in a draw by 0-0.
After that, Misbah went onto to win a Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760, but managed to level the series by 1-1.
He continued his impressive run as captain of the Pakistani side by winning back to back series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758.
Considering these performances, Bangladesh will be very lucky if they even manage to draw a game against the opposition.
Apart from the Pakistani skipper, there are also some solid players in the team, who will be looking forward to dominate the minnows.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 will be one of them, as he has been in impressive form in recent times. The all-rounder has cemented his place in all three formats of the game and is one of the best performers in the side.
The veteran has been scoring runs with consistency at the top-order and has the ability to turn things around with the ball as well.
Other than Hafeez and Misbah, stylish middle-order player http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Younis-Khan-c98325 will also be looking forward to scoring some big centuries against the Bengali bowlers.
The stylish right-handed batsman struggled a bit in the limited-over format, but has an average of more than 50 in Test cricket.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Gul-c94604, who can take wickets in any conditions with his ability to swing and seam the ball.
However, the visitors will mostly be depending on spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saeed-Ajmal-c87859, who has had a fabulous time in 2011.
Bangladesh too have some talented players, but will need a miracle to win a Test match against a quality side like Pakistan.
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