RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s pur­s­uit of next year’s World Test Championship final is set to start with the first fixture of the two-match series against Bangladesh here at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

The series will also open the hosts’ jam-packed cricket season, which will run until April next year, and will feature a total of nine Tests including those against Bangladesh — three against England and two each against South Africa and West Indies.

Pakistan will play seven of these matches at home, giving them the opportunity to prepare conditions favouring their strengths.

For the Bangladesh series, the Shan Masood-led side has identified pace as its main strength, and the curators at the venue, which will also host the second Test from Aug. 30, have left the pitch green for Pakistan’s all-pace attack to make the most of it.

Only the next five days will decide whether the approach works or not, but it speaks volumes of Pakistan’s intent to go all out to reach their ambition of making the WTC final, which is to be played in Lord’s next summer.

The attacking intent was on show in glimpses in Pakistan’s last series, against Australia, despite their eventual 3-0 loss. Shan vowed the upcoming season will be about taking that forward.

“We can look at wins and losses and raise our hands and say that we didn’t win in Australia, but there were a lot of things that we did right there,” the Pakistan skipper said during the pre-match press conference here on Tuesday. “There were a lot of things that we want to take forward with us.

“… as a team, I think we were heading in the right direction. That is something we will take with us.”

Pakistan’s Test season kicks off against a team ranked three places below them in the ICC rankings, giving the hosts an opportunity to ease their way to facing the harder opponents in England and South Africa.

Shan, however, believed the Najmul Hossain-led visitors coul­dn’t be taken lightly.“In the World Test Championship, there is no such thing as weak opponents,” he noted. “Every opponent has its strengths and presents challenges through their strengths.

“So, our focus is obviously on our strengths—what we can do better, what we did well, and carry that forward. But then also look at the strengths that the Bangladesh team brings to this series and hopefully we can play some cricket that can result in wins for us.”

With so much talk surrounding Pakistan’s decision to go with an all-pace attack against Bangl­adesh and prepare a pitch accordingly, Shan believed it was never a good idea to tweak with the original nature of the Pindi surface, something the hosts did in their 2022 series against Australia and England to no fruition.

“I feel in Rawalpindi, whenever we played domestic cricket, the conditions favored the seamers and the batters,” observed the 34-year-old. “Spin bowling hasn’t been such a big threat. So, we want to take what we do in domestic cricket forward rather than apply something new, which we don’t normally get in Rawalpindi.”

The Pakistan pace attack will be led by Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah, who will be supported by seamers Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Ali.

Ali, who played two Tests in 2022, has replaced Aamer Jamal, who was left out of the squad due to injury. Khurram, on the other hand, has been preferred over Mir Hamza, who featured in Pakistan’s previous Test outing.

“… when Shaheen and Naseem are taking the new ball, we nee­d­ed a bowler who could bowl in the middle overs like Aamer Jamal did,” Shan said. “I think Mohammad Ali has surprised us in the PSL, and we’ve seen him perform consistently in domestic cricket. He has the quality to move the ball with the seam in the air and has a bit of extra pace.”

Pakistan have also put their faith in Saim Ayub as opener in place of dropped Imam-ul-Haq, owing to the former’s explosive approach with the bat, again pointing towards the kind of cricket the side are aiming to play.

With Saim having impressed on his debut against Australia, Shan believed to prefer him over another promising domestic performer in Mohammad Huraira was a call based on the values of continuity and consistency.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, are up against a side against which they have lost 12 of the last 13 Tests, and drawn just one.

“We have a balanced side and I hope we play some good cricket,” said the visitors skipper Najmul. “I think the record can be changed, it’s not easy but we believe that we can do some special things.”

Meanwhile, the Test is under threat from bad weather, with rain predicted on all five days.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2024