KARACHI: Bangladesh skipper Salman Khatun vowed on Saturday her team would put up a better performance in the two-match One-day International series against Pakistan after the tourists were blanked 2-0 in the preceding T20 rubber at the Southend Club Cricket Stadium.

Speaking at the at the unveiling ceremony of the Women’s Cricket ODI Trophy, Salma said her players that they were looking forward to the one-dayers, with the first match scheduled for Sunday.

“Our ODI team is stronger,” Salma said in her native language, which was translated in English by Bangladesh team manager Mohammad Shafique Ul Huque. “We hope to give tough competition to Pakistan since T20 is very different from ODIs. There things can change for you in as little as four overs. But there are 50 overs to play in an ODI match.

“We have the stamina for it and have some good batswomen in our side, which have it in them to stay on the crease for long while keeping the scoreboard ticking,” she pointed out.

Shafique said that Bangladesh have beaten Pakistan an ODI back home.

“Fifty overs is an entirely different game plan. Our team has beaten Pakistan on home turf before and tomorrow our team will play with this in mind that our entire country will be glued to the screens. Even our prime minister, a huge cricket fan, is back in Dhaka now. She would also be watching. So the team will give it their all,” he said.

Pakistan captain Sana Mir said that her charges are well prepared for the one-day matches and would go all out to win this series as well because the players have worked hard on their fitness.

“We don’t tire easily. And we have demonstrated this while chasing big targets like we did chasing 270 against Sri Lanka this year. We can easily chase anything between 220 and 250,” Sana reminded.

About her strategy for Sunday’s match, Sana confidently expressed: “Bisma Maroof has been constant in her fine performance but Javeria Wadood, Marina Iqbal and Aliya Riaz have also been doing very well with the bat. Still, you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see my strategy unravel.”

Asked about the new system of ICC rankings, Sana said that she was happy about it since now their focus will also turn to Test cricket in order to climb in rankings.

“Playing more Tests will improve our overall ICC rankings for which they would be playing more bilateral series,” she said.

The match starts at 9.30am and will be telecast live by PTV Sports.

Teams (from):

PAKISTAN: Sana Mir (captain), Javeria Khan, Marina Iqbal, Bismah Maroof, Nida Dar, Iram Javed, Batool Fatima, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Asmavia Iqbal, Sumaiya Siddiqui, Sidra Amin, Rabiya Shah, Sania Khan, Ayesha Zafar.

BANGLADESH: Salma Khatun (captain), Fargana Hoque, Fahima Khatun, Rumana Ahmed, Ayasha Rahman, Ritu Moni, Panna Ghosh, Jahanara Alam, Khadija Tul Kubra, Nahida Akter, Lata Mondal, Shamima Sultana, Sharmin Akhter, Sharmin Sultana.

Published in Dawn October 4th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play