Pakistan are favourites to win their first series against Australia since 1994 as the teams go in to the second and final Test in Abu Dhabi from Thursday.
Pakistan, hit hard by the suspension of their ace spinner Saeed Ajmal, lifted its morale and performance to inflict a big 221-run defeat on Australia in the first Test in Dubai and look confident of repeating their performance on a venue they have never lost in five previous occasions.
Skipper Misbah-ul Haq stressed it will be important to repeat the performace of the first Test.
"We will do best efforts on our part to play good cricket because we have no small team in front of us, its Australia which is one of the best teams in the world, what good we did in the last game will try to repeat them and give the same performance," said Misbah after team practice on Wednesday.
"I think if we fulfill the basic roles in a better manner then good result will come, the most important will be that to do the basics of Tests in the best manner, lets hope for the best."
If Pakistan wins Misbah will equal Imran Khan and Javed Miandad's record of 14 Tests wins -- the most by a Pakistani captain.
But for Misbah consistency is more important than records.
"No, I didn't know of such record, our effort is to play a good match and the way we have lifted our performance level we should maintain and the complaint people have with us is that we don't play consistent cricket we have the focus to consistently perform in this match as well," said Misbah.
Misbah said the pitch at Sheikh Zayed Stadium will support his team.
"This pitch looks bit different, its normally different from the Dubai pitch because its more hard than Dubai and have pace and bounce, but it looks good and if we look at our strength then its looks good for us because we have a really good record here."
Pakistan is likely to retain the same squad, meaning opener Shan Masood and Taufeeq Umar will have to wait until the next series against New Zealand.
Misbah praised his bowlers for not making Ajmal's absence felt.
"I think credit must be given to the bowlers that they did not make us feel Ajmal's absence, the way they contributed it was wonderful, Ajmal is a great bowler and we had relied on him for so long and on Rehman."
"But these bowlers being new played their roles better, you feel Ajmal's absence when you play here and the Australian had not played him much, he would have played a major riole but I think these bowlers filled in for Ajmal in a better way."
Australian captain Michael Clarke promised a fight back.
"Any time we lose a game it breeds fire in your belly. We don't like losing, Australians in general don't like losing. We got outplayed and Pakistan deserve a lot of credit for the way they played over the whole five days. We know we can play a lot better and look forward to showing that in the second Test match."
Australia's top order of David Warner, who hit a hundred in the first Test, and Chris Rogers were steady. But the middle order, especially Clarke and Alex Doolan, failed in both innings.
Clarke was confident runs would come in the second Test.
"It doesn't feel any different to any other Test match to me. My expectations are always very high for myself personally to make sure I'm scoring runs and for this Australian team to have success," said the Australian skipper, who was the highest run-scorer in Tests in 2013 with 1,093.
"I don't feel any more expectation or any more pressure. It's about playing our best cricket over five days and if we do that I'm confident we can win the Test match."
Australia have the option of bringing in Glenn Maxwell, who can also bowl off-spin, for either Mitchell Marsh or Doolan.
If Pakistan win 2-0 they will jump to number three in the Test rankings, and Misbah called this a strong incentive.
Teams (from):?
Pakistan:?Misbah-ul Haq (capt), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Shan Masood, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Talha, Rahat Ali, Imran Khan, Ehsan Adil, Sarfraz Ahmed, Zulfiqar Babar, Yasir Shah.?
Australia: Michael Clarke (capt), David Warner, Chris Rogers, Alex Doolan, Steven Smith, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phillip Hughes, Brad Haddin, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Johnson, Steve O'Keefe, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, James Faulkner, Nathan Lyon.?
Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (ENG) and Nigel Llong (ENG) ?
Tv umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA) ?
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)
