Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi asserted that his team is not dwelling on the past as it prepares for its two-match Test series against Bangladesh, starting on Friday.
Bangladesh clinched a historic 2-0 Test series win over Pakistan in 2024, but Shaheen said the visitor was not looking at past results.
“The past is the past. Personally, I do not want to dwell on it. Our goal is to focus on the present and the future. We are preparing to win the (World Test) Championship, not just a single series. As a team, we have big goals and we are ready,” Shaheen said.
The 26-year-old and his teammates have been preparing for the transition back to red-ball cricket, with some players managing their workloads during the recently concluded Pakistan Super League.
“Our last series against South Africa in Pakistan was a long time ago. As a team, we are ready. We had preparation time in Pakistan and now here for the last two to three days. We are looking forward to the challenge. This period is very important for us as a Test team. We are playing a long season of Test cricket. We are focusing on how to prepare for the first Test. We hope the conditions suit us so we can play our best cricket here.
“We were already preparing during the PSL. After matches, we bowled extra overs on the side wickets. We worked on our bowling workloads to switch quickly to Tests. In the four or five days here, we tried to bowl around 25 overs to get used to the format.”
Pakistan is currently placed fifth in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) standings after drawing a two-match series 1-1 against South Africa last October.
Shaheen said Pakistan is looking forward to qualifying for the WTC final for the first time ever after it failed to do so in the first three editions of the tournament.
“Playing against any team in their home conditions is always tough. We are not just looking at one series; we are focusing on the World Test Championship. Our goal is to qualify for the final and win it. We will give our best to achieve that. The whole team understands that we need to play our best in the Test format.”
Published on May 07, 2026
