Misbah Ul Haq, Pakistan's head coach and chief selector, expressed confidence on his team's batting prowess coming into a difficult thee-Test series in the UK against England, beginning Wednesday (August 5) in Manchester.
While runs in home conditions in the previous two series aren't exactly an indication of how things might transpire versus James Anderson, Stuart Broad & co in their own den, Misbah feels the way his top six are shaping up really augurs well for the challenge at hands.
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"It's always tough with the Duke(s) ball in England where the ball moves around off the seam and also in the air," Misbah told reporters. "But this is where you can really fight and our batting looked in great shape in the last two series. We played in Pakistan but even in Australia we managed to score good runs in almost every innings."
"Shan Masood, Abid Ali scored centuries in previous series (at home to Bangladesh in February and at home to Sri Lanka in December)."
"Conditions are different but still confidence plays a huge role in your mind when you're coming from a series where you scored runs."
"Azhar (Ali) got a hundred (too, against Sri Lanka)," he recalled. "In 2016 Asad Shafiq scored runs here, Babar Azam last time performed here in 2018 (when Pakistan drew a two-match series in England 1-1) and the way he's batting at the moment, he's confident and playing well."
Tackling that experienced duo of Broad & Anderson, as well as the likes of Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood, Misbah thinks his batsmen need not be wary of them but make little mental adjustments and realise their potential.
"It's a challenge for us against an experienced and very good seam attack of England but I think we've got potential."
"Mentally at the moment the guys are in good shape because they are coming from good performances."
"When you are confident mentally and in good shape, then you always can deliver on the field."
England being a side famous for notoriously losing the opening game of a Test series - having lost it in eight of its previous ten series, including the recent 2-1 victory over West Indies - is also a factor the visitors are keeping in mind.
"We should be ready for an England team that have already had three matches of experience and they won their last two Test matches," said Misbah.
"We have to really come in this Test series right from the word 'go' at our best if we want to win a Test series or a Test match here."
"We are aware that England have a slight advantage but if we are alert and go 100 percent in the first Test match, that is the only way we can beat England, otherwise we will find ourselves in difficulty," he concluded.
(Inputs from AFP)
