With the World Cup disappearing down the horizon, new One Day cricket is on the way. Having a comparatively less satisfying campaign in the big event, the Pakistan tour of Bangladesh will be a series comprising of three ODIs, one T20 International and two Test matches. Despite being a rather weak side, Bangladesh are capable of doing the seemingly impossible and winning the series. With lots of new talent in the current team, they are a very unpredictable side. Nevertheless, history is in favour of Pakistan.

In the last 27 years, Pakistan have played Bangladesh in 32 ODIs, with all bar one of the results going their way. Bangladesh have lost every series in which they have played Pakistan at home.

In the current ICC ODI rankings, Pakistan are seventh whilst Bangladesh are ninth. This series will be very much a test for the Pakistanis, as Bangladesh are improving at a rate of knots, and Pakistan have a young and very inexperienced new skipper. After Misbah-ul-Haq retired from One Day Internationals, Pakistan’s Cricket Board decided to hand over the captaincy to Azhar Ali with Sarfaraz Ahmed as vice-captain. This decision has faced a lot of criticism until now, but it is up to Azhar to prove his worth in this series.

Pakistan’s ODI Squad for the tour of Bangladesh is as follows:

Azhar Ali (c), Sarfraz Ahmed (vc/wk), Sami Aslam, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Sohail, Saad Nasim, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Sohail Khan (injured/out), Junaid Khan

According to latest reports, Sohail Khan has been ruled out of this tour due to a back injury sustained during a training session. Sohail is now replaced by Junaid Khan in the squad.

Bangladesh’s ODI squad for this series:

Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Shakib Al Hasan (vc), Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Rony Talukdar, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Abul Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Arafat Sunny

This ODI series will start from 17th April 2015, as per the following schedule:

Date Match Venue Time (PST) Time (GMT) 17th April, 2015 1st ODI Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka 13:30 8:30 19th April, 2015 2nd ODI Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka 13:30 8:30 22nd April, 2015 3rd ODI Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka 13:30 8:30

With Misbah-ul-haq and Shahid Afridi no longer in the ODI side, it will be very interesting to see how this new Pakistani side perform in this series. As these two players have been key for Pakistan for the past four years or so, their absence will certainly be felt. The good news is that Saeed Ajmal is set to make a return to international cricket after seven months away from the sport due to a ban for his illegal bowling action. Ajmal cleared the ICC’s test and his new bowling action was declared legal just days before the World Cup 2015 started.

In the batting area, Sarfaraz Ahmed, along with the new skipper, Azhar Ali, who is very well known for his cool temperament and slow but consistent batting, has a great responsibility to help Pakistan build a better and more stable batting line-up; something which they have lacked for years. Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq and Fawad Alam are all capable of playing long innings, they all just need to find their forms again.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, have a very talented and young side. They will need to work harder in this series, but their ability to defeat any big team can never be ignored.

History does repeat always itself. History is made but the future can avenge it. If Bangladesh perform to their best, they will at the very least give Pakistan a tough time and could even go on to win the series. However, this Pakistan squad, despite being under new and inexperienced leadership, cannot be underestimated. These players to have the potential to win matches and series in abundance.

In short, this upcoming series will be very exciting to watch: more exciting than any previous Bangladesh vs Pakistan series. I have a feeling that it might, at some stage, turn into a very competitive series.