Prior to the tour of Bangladesh, the visiting Pakistan were lagging behind in terms of recent performance and experience. Many termed the tourists “inexperienced” and at times “ordinary”.
The claims somewhat proved to be correct in the first of three ODIs last Friday as the home side romped to a 79-run victory to break the 16-year jinx over their opposition.
Regular ODI skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza, however, disagreed with all the claims and discussions. While talking to the media yesterday, the 31-year old said the current Pakistan outfit is not at all ordinary and informed that the Tigers had to dig deep to take a 1-0 lead.
“I do not think they are an ordinary side. If you notice, they have the same bowling that troubled all the teams who faced them in the World Cup. Rather, I think this Pakistan bowling line-up is better than what they had in the World Cup. Yes, it is true that they do not have veterans like Misbah (ul Haq) and (Shahid) Afridi and batsmen like (Ahmed) Shehzad and Afridi changed a lots of games against us,” said Mashrafe.
The Narail Express quipped it is normal for every team to go through a transition period and it is no different for Pakistan.
“They (senior players) had to go someday and new players had to come in but if you observe, Bangladesh also have new players in the dressing room. A team need some time to settle down so I do not think they are behind us in strength,” Mashrafe explained.
Mashrafe will come back to the side today in place of all-rounder Abul Hasan after serving a one-match suspension due to a slow-over rate offence incurred during the 2015 ICC World Cup. Even though he missed the 79-run victory, Mashrafe was not upset and said, “It always feels good when you are part of the team. Yes, I could not play but I am happy that I was part of the team. We won against them after 16 years and I am extremely happy for that.
“This is a very good opportunity for us. The game yesterday (Friday) was perfect for us. I felt there were no big glitches in execution but the bowling could have been better.
“It is not possible for a team to do everything right in every game. It is possible to win against any team any time if you are in such a good rhythm. I hope we will be able to win tomorrow (today) if we can hold on to the performance.”