Title aspirants Pakistan would look to ensure a Super Eight berth by topping their pool when they take on minnows Bangladesh in their final Group D clash of the ICC World Twenty20 cricket tournament here tomorrow.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have clashed five times since the inception of the format and the former has always emerged victorious in the slam-bang battles.
Pakistan, the 2009 World T20 champions, are among the favourites to clinch a second title and led inspiringly by opener Mohammad Hafeez, the team looked every bit a genuine contender in its 14-run triumph over New Zealand in the opening group clash yesterday.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, were blown away by the Kiwis in their lung-opener and it would be tough for them to regroup easily against another tough opponent.
It was a rare clinical performance by the infamously temperamental Pakistan with the entire top half of the batting making decent contributions.
The bowlers were also disciplined with their miserly spells, stifling the Kiwi line-up — Saeed Ajmal being the star with a four-wicket haul.
Led by Hafeez, all the top order batsmen, be it Nasir Jamshed or Imran Nazir, made good contributions. Umar Akmal too was in his element during his cameo but all-rounder Shoaib Malik remains a worry.
Sending him ahead of the aggressive Shahid Afridi against New Zealand didn’t work as Pakistan’s scoring rate suffered and it would be interesting to see how the line-up shapes up tomorrow.
The bowling attack looks just perfect for the conditions with Ajmal, against whom most of the international batsmen have so far struggled to get going, being Pakistan’s trump card.