Pakistan captain Babar Azam is very well aware that a clean sweep against Bangladesh will help Pakistan retain the No. 1 ranking in Twenty20s format when they will take on in the first of the three-match series on Friday.

“When you think that you have to retain the No. 1 spot, every match is do or die for us,” Babar Azam said Thursday. “We have planned accordingly, we have talked to the players that they should give 110% to retain this No. 1 ranking.”

Pakistan placed at the top since January 2018 with 270 points despite winning only one out of nine T20s last year. A 3-0 series loss against Sri Lanka in Lahore late last year saw Babar take over the captaincy from former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed. But Babar, the No. 1-ranked batsman in T20s also seen struggling in his debut series as captain when Australia beat Pakistan by 2-0.

However, Pakistan have recalled allrounders duo Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez after Babar Azam suggested that he needed the experience of both players. Hafeez has been out of the T20 team since playing his last match in November 2018, while Malik, who has played 111 T20s, hasn’t featured for almost one year.

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“They are senior players and their presence in the team will help me,” Babar said.

However, the series has finalised last week only where many have opted out due to security reasons. Last year, Sri Lanka also tour to Pakistan for series where half of the players have withdrawn their names.

“We left it (security concerns) when we boarded the plane,” Mahmudullah said. “We are just thinking about playing good cricket in Pakistan, it’s good to be back here and we are looking forward to a good show here.”

“If you think about those ratings, probably it might affect your game so we’re not thinking about those things,” Mahmudullah added. “We know that Pakistan is a very good strong team … but if you see our T20 performance graph, it’s been going good for the last few series. It’s a mix of youth and experience players,” Mahmudullah said. “We need to think about our games individually and team-wise so that we can perform really well.”