August 20, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-us-Sani 21, 1424

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KARACHI, Aug 19: International cricket makes a return to Pakistan after an almost 16-month gap on Wednesday when the opening Test of the three-match series against Bangladesh gets under way at the National Stadium here.

Plagued by security concerns in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in the US, the change is a welcome respite after Pakistan were forced to host the West Indies and Australia at neutral venues. In between, New Zealand scurried home on the morning of the second Test in May 2002 when a bomb blast left 14 people dead, including 11 French naval technicians, just outside the teams hotel.

Bangladesh, babes among the Test-playing nations, on paper may not offer Pakistan the kind of competition which is the main ingredient of a closely fought series, after a spate of 20 defeats in 21 Tests, including a record 15 in succession.

But under the guidance of Dav Whatmore, the Australian who coached Sri Lanka to four notable achievements on Pakistan soil, Bangladesh have the talent in their squad — opening batsman Hannan Sarkar and fast bowler Mashrafe bin Mortaza — to surprise their opponents after their encouraging display against Steve Waugh’s world champions in Australia last month.

“This tour will be different from the last time we played against them (Pakistan) as we are progressing well now with Dav as coach,” Khaled Mahmud, the Bangladesh skipper told a press conference on Tuesday. “We know how desperate we are to lift ourselves. With some positives from the Australian tour we hope there will be a lot of improvement.”

Pakistan, on the other hand, have a lot to prove after a bitterly disappointing World Cup in southern Africa earlier this year. Coming into this opening encounter after playing two tournaments and a one-day series in England, Rashid Latif’s `new-look’ squad now come up against the underdogs who have nothing to lose.

Pakistan are playing their first game at this level since South Africa walloped them 2-0 more than eight months ago under Waqar Younis, one of the eight players who was axed after the World Cup. Of the team that was butchered by an innings and 142 runs in the second Test at Cape Town only Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana and Taufiq Umar have survived to face Bangladesh.

Inzamam, of course, is on a comeback trail after being dropped for his wretched form at the World Cup where he contributed only 19 runs in six games.

Pakistan’s track record at this venue was faultless until England won here in December 2000 in twilight. Otherwise, the home side has won 17 of the 35 Tests played here since this ground hosted its first big match in January 1955.

Four of the seven uncapped players in the 15-man Pakistan squad are set to make their Test debut. The inclusion of 25-year-old Yasir Hameed, who is being given the onerous responsibility of batting at the pivotal No 3 slot, opener Mohammad Hafeez, 22, and pacemen Shabbir Ahmed, 27, and Umar Gul, 19, could well extend the total number of Test players to 176.

“This side is full of talent and has done well in the recent one-day tournaments,” said Rashid, who is also making his debut on home soil as the national skipper. “We hope that the youngsters put the team on the right track with a win in this Test.”

It is simply hard to imagine that Pakistan are taking the field without that phenomenal fast bowling pair of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, who between them shared 787 wickets in 191 Tests.

Wasim, who announced his retirement three months ago after bagging a record 503 wickets in One-day Internationals, played his final Test against Bangladesh at Dhaka, limping out after bowling just 17 deliveries.

Waqar paid heavily for the first-round exit in the World Cup when he was not only stripped of the captaincy, but also dumped, for ever, by the selectors.

Shoaib Akhtar now spearheads a new-look pace battery with the gangling Shabbir and Umar in support, while Danish Kaneria, the leg-spinner, returns to mesmerise the hapless Bangladeshis.

Kaneria claimed 12 wickets when Pakistan won in the Asian Test Championship at Multan in 2001. He again capitalized on Bangladesh’s weakness against spin by picking up 13 more wickets in two Tests five months later.

But given the nature of the NSK pitch it is most likely that the captain winning the toss will opt to field first to take advantage of the prevailing cloudy atmosphere, and the heavy moisture as the result of recent rains, underneath the surface.

The tourists are almost certain to omit the badly out-of-form batsman Mohammad Ashraful and instead, award maiden Test cap to Rajin Saleh, a 19-year-old right-handed batsman who was among the reserves when Bangladesh played India in the inaugural Test at Dhaka in November 2000.

Match starts at 10.00am.

Teams (likely):

PAKISTAN: Taufiq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Misbah-ul-Haq, Rashid Latif (captain), Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed, Danish Kaneria, Umar Gul. 12th man: Shoaib Malik.

BANGLADESH: Hannan Sarkar, Javed Omar, Habibul Bashar, Sanwar Hossain, Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Khaled Mashud, Khaled Mahmud (captain), Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya, Mashrafe bin Mortaza. 12th man: Mohammad Ashraful.

Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Tyronne Wijewardena (Sri Lanka).

TV umpire: Nadeem Ghauri.

Reserve umpire: Salim Badar.

Match referee: Mike Procter (South Africa).

Official scorer: Salman Hussain.