ABU DHABI: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq is wary of a sharp England riposte in the second test starting on Wednesday after being humiliated last week.
England was beaten by 10 wickets in three days of the first test in Dubai.
“We've forgotten what happened in the last match,” Misbah said on Tuesday.
“It's a totally different ballgame now, the wicket is different, the conditions are different.”
Both previous tests in Abu Dhabi _ Pakistan-South Africa in 2010 and Pakistan-Sri Lanka last October _ have been drawn, and Misbah believed a result will be hard to come by again.
“I think that's a big ask for a fielding and bowling side to get 20 wickets because this is a good batting wicket,” Misbah said.
The two previous tests at Sheikh Zayed Stadium yielded three double centuries to South Africa's AB de Villiers, Pakistan's Taufeeq Umar and Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara.
That should hearten England batsmen Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen, all of whom fell to some atrocious shot selection in Dubai.
The Dubai pitch also had no demons for the batsmen, but Saeed Ajmal took his second career 10-wicket haul in the test and Misbah said Ajmal gave Pakistan a clear advantage.
“I think the edge we have with Ajmal is that he has variation, which no bowler has had recently,” he said. “But here the most important difference will be the batting of the two teams; whichever team scores more will have the advantage.”
Ajmal's bowling action came under scrutiny in some media after England failed to read his doosra.
However, Misbah said his offspinner was not bothered about the criticism.
“No, I don't think so because of the way he behaves throughout the game,” he said.
“He is a very jolly person and enjoys the atmosphere around the dressing room.”
While Pakistan would unlikely tinker with its winning XI, England will wait until the morning of the match to decide whether to play fast bowler Chris Tremlett.
Tremlett played his first test at Dubai since his back injury in August, and hurt it again in the match.
“He had a sore back and he's going to bowl back today before we know whether he is fit or not,” Strauss said.
“He's a big lad ... but it's always been the case that he gets sore after a fair amount of bowling. Generally he's been pretty good at recovering from that but we are not obviously 100 percent sure at this stage.”
Strauss' own batting form hasn't been flash, with just one century in the last 26 innings _ the last against Australia at Brisbane 14 months ago.
“Having been around the test match scene for a while now, I know form ebbs and flows,” Strauss said.
“I'm not overly fussed about it but I'm obviously conscious that as a captain you lead from the front with regards to scoring runs.”
He did not want to read too much into the fact that only three times has England rebounded to win a three-test series after losing the first.
“It's how you come back from setbacks which is the true measure of a side,” he said.
“This gives us a good opportunity to show that, it gives us an opportunity to show our resilience and character and our fight and our hunger and all those things people associate with a good side. We've got a great opportunity over the next five days to show that.”
Lineups:Pakistan (from): Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman.
England (from): Andrew Strauss (captain), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Graham Onions, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Steve Davies, Monty Panesar, Ravi Bopara.