Misbah hopeful of result with 'new strategies'

Losing to Bangladesh is just not acceptable in Pakistan even if they are a better side and are playing better cricket on a given day. Bangladesh have not lost any of their five matches against Pakistan, across all three formats, in the last 20 days and fans in Pakistan will be distraught if the visitors don't win the last and final encounter - the second Test, in Mirpur starting Wednesday.

Pakistan have lost more than just matches on this tour but Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq said there wasn't any "panic" in the camp. He came for the press conference in a witty mood and relatively relaxed as compared to his first interaction with the press on the tour, before the first Test in Khulna. When told he was being criticised once again back home over poor results, he replied: "They are doing it because they have nothing else to do."

"It doesn't matter whatever the situation and we have to cope with the pressure we are in," he said. "We don't have to worry about what is happening but the focus should be on playing our best cricket and produce results. We take every game seriously but results are not in our control. The only thing we can ensure is the efforts, and we are doing our best."

Misbah is known for his patient attitude and his defining feature is to keep himself low-profile in public. He refrains from making big statements and absorbs criticisms with a smile. When asked about the kind of pressure he must be under for the final match of the tour, he said: "What is pressure? At such level there is always pressure and this is nothing new. These things do happen and you should learn to give credit to the opponent and you just keep working hard and keep looking for the chances and that's the only way to get out of such situations.

"It's a game of cricket, anything can happen, especially the way Bangladesh have been playing for the last two months. They proved themselves in the World Cup under tough conditions in Australia and New Zealand, and they got really good confidence from that. And now in their own backyard they are playing very well. You obviously have to be ready because any team can give you tough time."

Pakistan, according to Misbah, didn't make mistakes in the first Test, but said his bowlers didn't adapt well on the flat pitch in Khulna. "Dhaka pitch is different from Khulna, it's good for batting, but at the same time it has something to offer for the bowlers as well," he said. "So I am hopeful that we will have a result here. We had plans for them and it's not like we never tried them, but Bangladesh, being in prime form, dealt with them very well. We are looking at some new strategies against them and let's see how we implement them.

"Still no one is favourite in the series as both are equal, and whoever wants to win this will have to be at their best."