Team not affected by Shoaib ban: Malik

Karachi:

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik said his team was neither affected nor distracted by the controversial ban on Shoaib Akhtar and maintained that the players were concentrating on their performance ahead of the ODI series against Bangladesh.

"It is something between the Board and a player. We are professional players and we are supposed to concentrate on our jobs which is playing cricket and doing well for our country," Malik said in an interview.

Malik said Shoaib's incident had not dampened the morale and spirit of the team and they were working hard towards the Bangladesh rubber.

"The ongoing national one-day tournament has helped us get in shape for the coming series and we are going to have a short camp before the first match on Tuesday. We are looking forward to the series and are keen to do well in it," he added.

Malik said Pakistan had enough talent to do well in the series and the target would be to win all the matches.

"We are not going to underestimate the Bangladesh side as they are a good one-day squad who have caused many upsets in the past. You can't take them lightly," he stated.

Malik said Australia not coming to Pakistan was now history and the players were now concentrating on the Bangladesh series.