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This hastily arranged series to replace the Australian tour being postponed starts in Lahore tomorrow.

This will be Pakistan 's first competitive match since their ODI series against Zimbabwe ended in early February.. The intervening weeks has seen turmoil politically in the country, uncertainty over that Australian tour and further distraction last week of the Soahib Akhtar affair.

If that was not enough, their main strike bowler, Asif, has been ruled out through injury

The collective impact of all these events leaves Pakistan extremely vulnerable in this series.

On paper they remain the stronger side by miles, on paper they should stroll this series, on paper Bangladesh will do well to even compete, let alone win a match.

But as the saying goes, "Don't believe everything you read in the papers"

The headline news in this series, especially for this first game is that Pakistan are under prepared and as a result they are vulnerable and I believe this gives Bangladesh an excellent opportunity to cause an upset or two in this series.

Bangladesh lost heavily at home to South Africa , but followed that up with a confidence boosting 3-0 win over Ireland .

The same Ireland incidentally, that humbled Pakistan in the World Cup Last year when they were caught unprepared and unacclimatised.

Lahore is traditionally a good batting track and I expect a high scoring game. Bangladesh has exciting stroke players in Tamim, Siddique, Nafees, Ashraful and Aftab. They have been inconsistent recently, but on a good batting track, against a team that is missing their two main strike bowlers, they are more then capable of playing exceptional innings.

All the games in this series are daynighters. This will prove to be another leveller between the sides if Pakistan find themselves chasing under lights.

I am not saying Bangladesh will win this series. I expect Pakistan to improve with each game and ultimately win the series. HOWEVER, I don't believe they will win it 5-0.

At the likely prices on offer, anyone laying Pakistan   in each game will be guaranteed a profit if Bangladesh win at least one game.

At the very least I expect Bangladesh to get very close and plenty of opportunities to lock in a profit in running.

My advice is  lay Pakistan in every game. I suggest a staking strategy of 2 points liability on this first game while Pakistan are most vulnerable, and reducing it to a 1 point liability in the other four games when I expect Pakistan to improve.

Suggested bet for 1st ODI is:

LAY Pakistan @ 1.09 on Betfair for 2 points Liability .

Bigjoe

(Ground info supplied by Cricinfo)