Skipper Babar Azam vowed Pakistan will target a place in the World Test championship final by winning the series against England starting in Rawalpindi from Thursday.
\nPakistan are placed fifth in the nine-team World Test Championship (WTC) and can have a shot at next year\u2019s final at The Oval in England if they win the three-Test series 2-0.
\nThey also have a two-match home series against New Zealand to follow next month.
\n\u201cWe are excited about that prospect of playing the WTC final,\u201d said Azam on Wednesday.
\n\u201cThis is an important series. We have a golden chance to achieve that if we win four of the five Tests to come,\u201d said Babar, whose side has 56 points from nine Tests in the WTC.
\nThey have won four, lost three and drawn the other two.
\nAustralia leads the table with 84 points and are currently playing a two-Test series at home against the West Indies. New Zealand won the inaugural WTC by beating India last year.
\nUnder Babar, Pakistan have done well in white ball cricket, playing in the finals of the Asia Cup and Twenty20 World Cup this year.
\nBabar said his players have prepared well for the series.
\n\u201cWe got around a week to prepare for the series so that was great and has given us some edge and momentum. The best thing was that domestic first-class matches were on so some of the players were already playing red-ball cricket.\u201d
\nBabar refused to admit Pakistan \u2014 missing pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi with a knee injury \u2014 is short on experience in bowling.
\n\u201cOur bowling is good and will give a tough time to England,\u201d vowed Babar. \u201cNaseem (Shah) has been bowling well and whatever England have been doing I have that confidence and the belief that they will give their best to give us wins.\u201d
\nNaseem is the only fast bowler in the squad to have played Test cricket (13 Tests) while the other three pacemen Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim and Mohammad Ali are uncapped at longer format.
\nHe, however, admitted England have more experience in bowling.
\n\u201cYes, England have that edge in fast bowling because they have James Anderson who is very experienced and give them an edge in that department,\u201d said Babar of the England spearhead who has 667 wickets in 175 Tests.
\nBabar hoped England would be at their full strength after a virus swept through their camp, leaving 13-14 squad members (six to seven players) sick.
\n\u201cYes, it\u2019s sad to know that but I am sure they will recover and we face a full-strength England team in the Test.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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