KARACHI, April 18: Bangladesh, saddled with a young but underperforming skipper, will be desperate to avoid a 5-0 humiliation at the hands of hosts Pakistan who eye a record 11th successive One-day International victory when the two teams meet in the final day/night fixture at the National Stadium here on Saturday.

Realistically speaking, Bangladesh should brace themselves for another stern test of their cricketing prowess which has always been the topic of discussion since the time they were granted Test status by the game’s governing body in 2000.

Having lost 21 of the 22 one-dayers against Pakistan, it will take a brave effort from the tourists to pull off the unthinkable — a miraculous win to put them in a better frame of mind ahead of the Twenty20 International, scheduled for Sunday at the same venue.

Mohammad Ashraful’s lack of runs on the current tour has only added to Bangladesh’s woes. The 23-year-old, who succeeded Habibul Bashar as the national skipper last June, has accumulated just 51 runs in four outings to prolong his wretched one-day record against Pakistan (he averages a disastrous 7.33 in nine matches). Moreover, in the last 21 innings, Ashraful have passed 50 just twice.

Jamie Siddons, Bangladesh’s Australian coach, remained optimistic on Friday when he told a press conference that his charges would put up a better performance on Saturday. “If only we can put together a good total then there is some hope despite the fact the top-order batting has not clicked in the previous games,” he said.

“Overall, I think our all-round cricket hasn’t been up to the mark on this tour. But I still believe we can perform a lot better.”

In stark contrast to poor Ashraful, Shakib Al Hasan is fast emerging the Mr Dependable of his team’s edgy batting line-up. The 20-year-old left-hander has, undoubtedly, been the star performer for his side in the last two matches.

It was because of Shakib’s brilliant 108 in Multan, Bangladesh’s first individual hundred against Pakistan, that allowed the visitors had to reach a respectable 210 all out after being 84-7 in the 20th over.

Apart from Shakib, only fellow left-hander Tamim Iqbal has been able to provide runs at the top of the order while rest of the batting has struggled. Aftab Ahmed and Shahriar Nafees have both matched their captain for inconsistency.

Shakib dominates the bowling front too. His five wickets are the highest for the visiting side in this series while his economy rate of 4.85 is by far the best that a modest bowling attack could offer Pakistan.

If anyone has cashed in on the opportunity of regaining top form, it is none other than Pakistan opener Salman Butt. The left-hander opening batsman’s lowest score to-date has been 33 in the series while he aggregates 315 runs. Shahid Afridi leads the wicket-takers list with nine scalps.

Admittedly, Malik wouldn’t be over the moon at leading Pakistan to the record sequence because nine of the 10 victories prior to the start of the last ODI have come over the whipping boys of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

But the skipper played down that factor and insisted that playing international cricket was more important for Pakistan. “If you say that we are not playing top teams at the moment is being like unkind to Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. It’s always better to be playing cricket than not playing at all,” Malik told reporters on Friday.

“Winning 11 matches on the trot is itself an honour for Pakistan and the entire country should be proud of this achievement irrespective of the opponents we defeated.”

The selectors have thankfully decided to induct prolific batsman Naumanullah, who will be making his international debut, and young left-arm paceman Wahab Riaz in Saturday’s game with both the players highly deserving a chance to show their mettle.

Senior batsman Younis Khan will be the third change in the side as pacer Sohail Khan, all-rounder Fawad Alam and Bazid Khan sit out.

With President Pervez Musharraf scheduled to witness the game, the security has been further beefed up for the dead-rubber fixture that starts at 3.00pm.

Teams:

PAKISTAN: Shoaib Malik (captain), Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Mohammad Asif, Naumanullah, Wahab Riaz.

BANGLADESH (from): Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Farhad Reza, Dhiman Ghosh, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain, Nazimuddin, Syed Rasel, Shahriar Nafees.

Umpires: Nadeem Ghauri (Pakistan) and Steve Bucknor (West Indies).

TV umpire: Zameer Haider (Pakistan).

Match referee: Mike Procter (South Africa).