Several senior players, including Babar Azam and Shadab Khan, have been left out, with six new faces included for the ODI series.
Despite the youthful squad, head coach Mike Hesson is confident his side has the ability to defeat Bangladesh national cricket team 3-0.
Pakistan have brought players such as Abdul Samad, Maaz Sadaqat, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori, Saad Masood, Sahibzada Farhan and Shamil Hussain to Bangladesh. Although all six are yet to make their ODI debuts, they have shown strong performances in domestic cricket.
Hesson said he is excited about the squad. “It is an exciting group. We have some new faces here who have done well with the ‘Shaheens’ and have earned the opportunity to move to the next level. We are pleased to include them in the team.”
The Pakistan coach had previously criticised the pitch at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur during their last Bangladesh tour, calling it a poor surface. This time, however, he sounded more optimistic after observing the wickets used in the recent Bangladesh Premier League.
“Certainly the pitch looks much better than before and the grass coverage is good. Unfortunately the pitches here had not been very good for some time, but during the BPL we saw that they had improved significantly,” Hesson said.
“It looks like there is more grass and there could be a genuine contest between bat and ball. I think both teams will benefit from that. Both sides want to play on good cricket wickets and embrace the challenge.”
Bangladesh have played more ODI cricket recently than Pakistan and come into the series in good form after defeating the West Indies cricket team and Ireland cricket team at home. Hesson acknowledged that advantage but remained confident about his team.
“Of course we can (beat Bangladesh 3-0). But we have a lot of respect for Bangladesh in their conditions. Again, the conditions here will be very different from the T20 series. I think both teams will face challenges with both bat and ball. Bangladesh have played a lot more 50-over cricket recently, so we need to adapt to this longer format very quickly.”
“Our challenge is to adjust to the pitches here as soon as possible. Whatever conditions we face, we must ensure we have a team capable of challenging Bangladesh in their own backyard.”
