We have two Test series beginning on Wednesday with the first of them doing so in Rawalpindi as Pakistan look to build on their World Test Championship position when they go up against Bangladesh in the first of two matches.
These two sides sit in the bottom four of the World Test Championship table heading into the series so if either can come out on top it will do their position no harm as we head towards the second part of the cycle.
Pakistan
This will be the first time we will have seen Pakistan in Test match cricket since the beginning of the year where they were in Australia for three matches. They lost all three and predictably there were consequences after that, as there always seems to be in Pakistan cricket. Having had just over eight months to get a plan to move forward with together it will be interesting to see how Pakistan go not only here but also in the series against England which is fast approaching.
You would imagine that Pakistan will look pretty strong with the ball here against Bangladesh but if they are ever going to return to the force of old then they need to come up with a solid batting unit which can fire not just on the flat pitches at home but also around the world. They have five matches before they go to South Africa over Christmas so there is a run of games to build up some form and momentum if they are patient and build something.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh have been in action a little more recently in Test match cricket in 2024 having faced Sri Lanka in a series back in March. That was one where they lost 2-0 and really they are a side who are yet to completely crack this format of the game, especially on the road, so it will be interesting to see what they can come up with here. They have gone fairly well in white ball cricket in the last period which has probably allowed their Test side to be so poor but the game needs strength in depth in this format.
In that series against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh won’t need to look too far into the two matches to find out why they lost them both. In four innings they only scored more than 200 on one occasion and you just don’t win Test matches if you can’t put anything like a competitive score on the board. When you look at Bangladesh in white ball cricket they are gathering a useful set of pacers and if they are going to improve in this format then they need them to come to the boil with a red ball.
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Team News
Pakistan have named their XI for this match and they are going to go in with four seamers with Shaheen Shah Afridi joined by Naseem Shah, Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Ali. Salman Ali Agha has got the number seven spot.
Shadman Islam is the man expected to come in and fill the void in the opening position but the big news for Bangladesh going into this match is that Mushfiqur Rahim is back in the side after he missed the Sri Lanka series.
Betting
While Bangladesh might not be the best batting side away from home, the engine room of their side is so strong that I have to think they can contribute to the run scoring here and as such I’m willing to take on a run line that is down at 946.5. This Rawalpindi wicket is usually absolutely full of runs for the first three days at the very least and I expect this to be quite hard work for the bowlers, especially with the majority of them coming into the match used to white ball spells.
The last match here had first innings scores of 657 and 579 and if we get anywhere near those totals here then we are going to cruise past the run line. The one before had 476/4d against 459 so there is a recent history of big scores on this ground where the pitch is generally on the slow side as well before it begins to turn later in the game. I don’t expect either side to be run through in these conditions and even four scores around the 250 mark gets us past this line so I have to play the over here.
Tips
Back Over 946.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
