DHAKA: Wonder if Pakistan ever imagined themselves in this situation before their flight to Dhaka: staring at the possibility of being whitewashed by Bangladesh in an One-day International (ODI) series and hanging onto the excuse of ‘team in transition’.

If Azhar Ali’s appointment as skipper to replace the retired Misbah-ul-Haq raised eyebrows, Pakistan’s defeat in two ODIs to concede the series brought out the “I told you” reactions from critics and experts.

Read: Misery for Pakistan as Bangladesh seal historic series win

And ahead of Wednesday’s third and final ODI at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Pakistan head coach Waqar Younis has admitted that there are many problem areas that the team needs to sort out.

“I agree with what the critics are saying about our cricket. There are many problem areas but now we have to be patient and wait for things to turn around,” Waqar said in an interview to a private news channel.

“We have new players and we are building a new team now under a new captain, so everyone will have to be patient. It is not going to be easy but going back will only hurt our cricket more,” he said.

The coach said Bangladesh had surprised Pakistan with the way they had played the two one-day matches.

Also read: Pakistan cricket is in trouble: Waqar

“They have improve a lot their attitude and approach to one-day cricket and we must give them credit where it is due. But our team has just played poor cricket and we need to sort that out,” said Waqar.

Waqar and Pakistan, meanwhile, will be boosted by all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez being cleared to bowl again in international cricket after remedial work and a re-test on his action.

Also read: Hafeez overjoyed as bowling action cleared by ICC

The 34-year-old off-spinner was banned from bowling after being reported for a suspect action five months ago and played as a specialist batsman in Pakistan’s one-day international defeat against Bangladesh on Sunday, making a duck at No 3 in the defeat in Dhaka.

But after the International Cricket Council confirmed his action had been proven legal on Tuesday, Hafeez can bowl again for his country.

But it remains to be seen how effective he will be with fellow team-mate Saeed Ajmal having struggled since coming back with a remodelled action.

In the first two ODIs against Bangladesh after being cleared to bowl again, Ajmal has taken just one wicket.

“It’s a difficult job to come back to international cricket and start performing at the same levels as before,” noted Sri Lanka’s spin bowling coach and former Sri Lankan international Ruwan Kalpage during a pre-match news conference on Tuesday.

“But Ajmal is improving day by day, as shown by the improvements he made form the first to the second ODI.”

Ajmal went wicket-less in his 10 overs in the first ODI, conceding 74 runs, before claiming 1-49 in the second.

Kalpage, meanwhile, said Bangladesh were happy with what they were doing in all departments of the game having sealed their maiden series win over Pakistan.

“Its impressive to see how confident our players are, and I hope that they will contintue to progress with the high levels of performances in all departments of the game — batting, bowling and fielding,” he said.

He was also delighted with the balance in the squad and Bangladesh’s current form.

“It is really good to have guys like Shakib [Al Hasan] and Nasir [Hossain] and also Sabbir [Rahman] in the side, who are top order batsmen and can bowl really well,” Kalpage said. “When you have such options, it helps create a balance in the side, which helps you get desired results.”

The ODI series will be followed by a Twenty20 International and two Tests.

Teams (from):

BANGLADESH: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Rony Talukdar, Mominul Haque, Abul Hasan.

PAKISTAN: Azhar Ali (captain), Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Rizwan, Fawad Alam, Saad Nasim, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan, Sami Aslam, Asad Shafiq.

Umpires: Sharfuddoula (Bangladesh) and Ruchira Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka).

TV umpire: Nigel Llong (England).

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2015

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