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| September 18, 2003 | Thursday | Rajab 20, 1424 |
Luckless Bangladesh search for elusive win
RAWALPINDI, Sept 17: Bangladesh, still looking for their first tour win, go into Thursday’s day-night One-day International against Pakistan at Rawalpindi Stadium trying to be as “competitive as they can.”
Coach Dav Whatmore said on the eve of the fourth match of the series that he believed victory was possible. “That’s our intention each time we play.”
With 0-3 down in the five-game series, Bangladesh have now gone 40 One-day Internationals without victory since last scoring a win against Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup.
“We are improving with every match if you look at the results of the last three games, and for us each game we play is important,” said Whatmore with his captain Khaled Mahmud sitting next to him.
The touring side lost the first game at Multan by 137 runs followed by a 74-run defeat at Faisalabad before being beaten again at Lahore by 42 runs.
Saying that experience was the only difference between the two sides, Whatmore felt his players had done well on tour so far. “There’s definitely a lot more meaning to what the players do now, there’s been improvement.”
He said he had not seen the Pindi Stadium wicket yet and therefore avoided comment on it. The pitch here has almost always been a batsmen’s paradise and Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq agreed to this at the news conference, his coach Javed Miandad with him. “The wicket will be good for batting and I see plenty of runs being scored.”
Pakistan are not sure whether to play fast bowler Mohammad Sami who sat out the Test series because of an ankle injury and has not played in the one-day competition so far. He was named on the team for last week’s third encounter at the Gaddafi Stadium.
“We have not decided if we are going to play him tomorrow,” Inzamam said.
He would not comment on the option of playing Sami in place of either Junaid Zia or Shabbir Ahmed. “Junaid has done well, he took wickets in the second game but went wicket-less in the third one-dayer. He is a youngster and obviously would need time.”
Javed Miandad, the Pakistan coach, believed that his young side had fared just right against Bangladesh but did not seem too impressed.
“This side did not have many qualities as past Pakistan teams, but the youngsters still fought well.
“The good thing about this series is that we have been able to assess our weaknesses and we have worked to rectify them.”
He pointed out that Pakistan’s ground fielding especially had improved.
With the Bangladesh tour coming to an end, the last one-dayer scheduled for Karachi on Sunday, Miandad said they also had one eye on South Africa.
The South Africans arrive in Pakistan on Monday to play three One-day Internationals and as many Tests. “We are not afraid of them and the only difference is that of experience. We need to polish our skills a little more but there’s nothing to worry.”
Teams (from):
Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Nazir, Yasir Hameed, Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Yousuf Youhana, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Shabbir Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Junaid Zia, Danish Kaneria, Salman Butt.
Bangladesh: Khaled Mahmud (captain), Hannan Sarkar, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Sanwar Hossain, Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Khaled Mashud, Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe Mortaza, Alamgir Kabir, Tapash Baisya, Mushfiqur Rahman, Hasibul Hossain, Tushar Imran.
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Russell Tiffin (Zimbabwe).
TV umpire: Asad Rauf (Pakistan).
Match referee: Mike Procter (South Africa).
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