RAWALPINDI: Bangladesh is pinning its hopes on all-rounder and former lawmaker Shakib Al Hasan to “do something special” against pace-heavy Pakistan in the opening test of the two-match series, starting Wednesday.
“(Shakib) played this game for so long, so he knows his role,” Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said on the eve of the first test match at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
“He knows how to prepare himself, so I am not thinking about his political career and I hope he will do something special in this series. He’s a professional cricketer and we all treat him as a cricketer, to be very honest.”
Bangladesh’s most accomplished all-rounder, spin great Shakib was playing in the T20 league in Canada during political turmoil in his country back home.
The unrest hampered preparations and Bangladesh flew to Pakistan four days ahead of schedule to get an additional three days of training in Lahore.
Rawalpindi will host both the test matches.
The series is part of the World Test Championship in which Pakistan is languishing at No. 6 spot while Bangladesh is at No. 8, above last-place West Indies.
Pakistan has an impressive test record against Bangladesh, winning all but one of the 13 matches. The teams drew at Khulna in Bangladesh in 2015.
Shanto said it won’t be easy for Bangladesh against a four-pronged pace Pakistan pace attack, led by Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. And Pakistan pacers have happy memories of Rawalpindi. Four years ago, a hat trick from Shah helped Pakistan to inflict a crushing innings and 44 runs defeat on Bangladesh.
Shanto, who was among Shah’s hat-trick wickets in that 2020 test, said “it’s not going to be easy,” but remained hopeful.
“We have a very good balanced side and we believe we can do some special things this time,” he said Tuesday.
The series will be the first test for Pakistan’s new red-ball head coach Jason Gillespie of Australia. Pakistan was swept 3-0 by Australia in the last test series it played eight months ago. That was also Shan Masood’s debut test series as Pakistan captain.
“There were some mistakes that we made that cost us probably the Melbourne and Sydney test matches,” Masood said. “But as a team, we were heading in the right direction, so that’s something that we’ll take with us.”
Masood said results in the domestic matches at Rawalpindi have encouraged him to go with all-out pace attack that also features fast bowlers Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Ali in the playing XI.
“You have to be very flexible and you have to adapt and adopt different conditions,” Masood said. “I feel in Rawalpindi … the conditions have favored the seamers and the batters, spin bowling hasn’t been such a big threat.”
Bangladesh looks to Shakib to ‘do something special’ against pace-heavy Pakistan
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Bangladesh looks to Shakib to ‘do something special’ against pace-heavy Pakistan
- Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain says Shakib Al Hasan is a professional cricketer and knows his role
- Pakistan has an impressive test record against Bangladesh, winning all but one of the 13 matches
Pakistan’s PIA to resume London flights from Mar. 29 after six-year gap
- Newly privatized airline says will operate four weekly flights from Islamabad to London
- PIA is already operating three fllights per week to British city Manchester, says airline
ISLAMABAD: The newly privatized Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will operate direct flights to London starting Mar. 29, 2026, after six years, its spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.
The PIA resumed its flight operations to the UK in October this year with its inaugural flight to Manchester. The airline is currently operating three weekly flights to the British city.
Britain lifted restrictions on Pakistani carriers in July, nearly half a decade after grounding them following a 2020 PIA Airbus A320 crash in Karachi that killed 97 people. The disaster was followed by claims of irregularities in pilot licensing, which led to bans in the US, UK and the European Union.
“Pakistan International Airlines has announced the expansion of its operations in the United Kingdom with the resumption of flights to London,” the airline’s spokesperson said in a statement.
“Starting Mar. 29, PIA will operate four weekly flights from Islamabad to London.”
The airline said that the London flights will be operated from Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4, which it said is recognized as one of its most modern terminals.
“London was PIA’s very first international destination and remains one of its most important and attractive routes,” the spokesperson said.
Pakistan’s government succeeded in its frequent efforts to privatize the airline this month after a consortium, led by Arif Habib Group, on Dec. 23 secured a 75 percent stake in PIA for Rs135 billion ($482 million) after several rounds of bidding, valuing the airline at Rs180 billion ($643 million).
The sale marked Pakistan’s most aggressive attempt in decades to reform the debt-ridden national airline, which had accumulated more than $2.8 billion in financial losses. The government said it would end decades of state-funded bailouts and help revive the airline.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News this week, the airline’s new owner Arif Habib said he plans to renovate PIA planes, improve maintenance and flight schedule, and bring in new aircraft to revive the carrier.
Habib said he sees the region comprising the UK, the US and Canada as a “lucrative market” for the airline’s business.
“There we can increase the frequency of the flight,” he said. “We will also try to run flights to Canada from Karachi, Lahore, and I think it’s already in Islamabad.”
