Mushfiqur Rahim confident of beating Pakistan ahead of the Test series
The captaincy armband returns to Mushfiqur Rahim as a buoyed Bangladesh are all set to take on a Pakistan side that has probably suffered their worst beating in the last decade or so. But they will be strengthened by the arrival of Test skipper Misbah-Ul-Haq and experienced veteran Younis Khan.
And Mushfiquir acknowledges that, “They are legends of Test cricket, and they will add to this batting line-up. But the 4-0 margin will be in their mind. They will be mentally a bit down as a result. Our bowlers have to keep these two batsmen under pressure, and get them out quickly. Azhar Ali is also batting well, and Hafeez has experience," he said.
But Mushfiqur is confident that his side can take the positives from the limited overs series where they beat Pakistan on four out of four occasions even though the pressure will be much higher. "You can call it challenge rather than pressure. 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.”
‘Draw not on our minds’
The skipper has also made it clear to everyone that Bangladesh won’t be playing for a draw in the series as he knows that such a mentality would curb their natural instinct and could backfire. "If you play with draw in mind, you will be defensive. The opponent can understand that pretty quickly. I think we should play our natural game; the batsmen should be allowed to bat freely while the bowlers should be attacking. We are thinking of winning, and we have a number of match-winners," he said.
The first Test begins tomorrow.