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Pakistan vs Bangladesh | 1st Test | Rawalpindi | Feb 7-11, 2020 | Pre-Match Discussion Thread

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Abdullah719

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Tigers leave for Pakistan today to play 1st Test

Bangladesh's head coach Russell Domingo has said they will travel to Pakistan with the intent of winning the Test. Domingo admitted this will be tough for them, but said if they can do things well and improve considerably from their last tour of India, they can push Pakistan. “Absolutely, there is no doubt (that we will go there for winning the Test). We know we haven’t played well in Tests, but if you are going to Pakistan thinking that we can’t win, might as well stay here. I am confident that if we do things well and improve considerably over our tour of India, we can push Pakistan,” Domingo told the media at the pre-tour press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

Bangladesh will fly to Pakistan via Qatar by a flight of Qatar Airways this evening (Tuesday) for the first phase game of the Rawalpindi Test to be played from February 7-11.

“It is going to be tough; they are a quality side. But we know they can also have a bad day. We need to have a great day when they have a bad day. If that happens, we give ourselves a chance,” he said.

Citing the combined new pace and spin attack of Pakistan that may pose a big threat for them, the head coach said they have to be positive and confident to negotiate with them to foil their combined barrage.

“We’ve a few left-handers and that will help us. Yasir Shah has not been at the top of his game recently. Pakistan always produces great fast bowlers and leg-spinners, but we have to be positive and confident to negotiate with them. Yasir Shah is a fantastic bowler, but it is just a cricket ball. As Ottis says, play the game, not the name,” he added.

The coach said they have to show a bit more commitment with the bat for this.

“The wickets here don’t have much pace and bounce. I’m sure Rawalpindi might have some pace and bounce. It is going to be a big challenge for the boys. Some of them have been doing well with Neil McKenzie, who has worked on some technical things with the Test boys,” he said.

“Of course, some of the boys know that they have to put in some big performances on the back of a poor Test series against India. We have to show a bit more commitment with the bat, and find ways to score even when the conditions are not good,” he added. “We have to win Tests, and outside of Bangladesh. If we are realistic, the chance of winning the World Test Championship is not good. We are ranked No. 10 in Tests. But we really want to win a series outside Bangladesh. If we can do that, the team will gain so much confidence. We want to play good cricket away from Bangladesh.”

“Every time you are playing for your country, you should be motivated. It is a big series against one of the top cricketing nations in the world. We have a lot to improve in Test cricket, so players know they have to perform in this format. We haven’t played well in Test matches in a long period of time. We want to set ourselves a goal of trying to win a Test series outside Bangladesh. So there’s a lot of motivation for us,” he concluded.

http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/235334
 
Looking forward to Naseem and Shaheen, we know what to expect from Babar. Others are meh
 
Shan
Abid
Azhar
Babar
Fawad
Shafiq
Rizwan
Yasir
Shaheen
Abbas
Naseem

Prepare a greentop.
 
Weakest format for BD. Don't have much expectations but hopefully they will put up a fight.

Tamim is returning after hitting 334* in a domestic game. He needs to score big.
 
I have played lots of cricket in Pindi, the best season to produce fast and bouncy wickets are spring, March and April, lets see what kind of wicket we see a month earlier.
 
My team:

1. Shan Masood
2. Abid Ali
3. Babar Azam
4. Azhar Ali (c)
5. Fawad Alam
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Muhammed Rizwan (wk)
8. Bilal Asif
9. Naseem Shah
10. Shaheen Shah Afridi
11. Mohammed Abbas

Drop Yasir shah and Haris Sohail for Bilal Asif and Fawad Alam.

Babar Azam to preferably bat at no. 3 as I feel this is his spot in all formats.
 
My team:

1. Shan Masood
2. Abid Ali
3. Babar Azam
4. Azhar Ali (c)
5. Fawad Alam
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Muhammed Rizwan (wk)
8. Bilal Asif
9. Naseem Shah
10. Shaheen Shah Afridi
11. Mohammed Abbas

Drop Yasir shah and Haris Sohail for Bilal Asif and Fawad Alam.

Babar Azam to preferably bat at no. 3 as I feel this is his spot in all formats.


Fair call but I dont think that is going to happen. Haris Sohail will be given yet another chance. Fawad is in the team just for the optics.
 
Bangladesh cricketers leave Dhaka for Pakistan Test

Bangladesh national cricket team left Dhaka on Tuesday evening for Doha enroute to the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi to play the first Test of the two-match series against Pakistan that will begin on 7 February, reports UNB.

Before the Test series, Bangladesh played a three-match T20 series against hosts Pakistan and lost the series 0-2 with another one washing out due to rain.

Before flying to Pakistan, Bangladesh batsman Mohammad Mithun said they are upbeat to make a strong challenge to the hosts in this Test.

“We have prepared well to play good cricket in Pakistan. I hope we will play better cricket than we did in the T20 series,” Mithun told the media at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur in the capital on Tuesday.

Bangladesh will miss the service of reliable Mushfiqur Rahim in the Test series as the wicketkeeper-batsman opted out from this series citing family concern to tour Pakistan.

“We are surely going to miss him in this series. He has been playing a good brand of cricket for a long time. But, we will try to play our best cricket so that we can come back with a good result,” Mithun further said.

Bangladesh team have no practice game before their first Test in Pakistan in 17 years. They will get only two or three practice sessions before the game. This short preparation at the venue might affect the game of the Tigers.

However, Bangladesh pacer Ebadot Hossain said they are not going to focus on that. He rather said they have prepared well to face any sort of challenges.

“I don’t think it will harm our game. As far as I know, the wickets of Pakistan are mostly batting-friendly. We have played on the same sort of wickets in Bangladesh. We are confident to play our best cricket, and if we can do that, we will have a good result,” Ebadot told the media.

Ebadot is known for his pace, but the bowler is not looking for pace only. He is preferring to bowl at the right areas consistently as well. “A bowler gets more time in Test cricket to bowl. So, the consistency is the key to do well in Test cricket, and I am looking forward to this.”

Saif Hassan, the right-handed opener, who was close to getting his Test cap in Kolkata Test last year but a sudden injury delayed his chance. But this time around, the batsman is all set to play his maiden Test for the Tigers. Saif said he is ready to take the challenge of international cricket.

“I was ready for the previous chance, but a blow in the hand delayed my debut for Bangladesh. I am ready again. I've worked with our batting coach Neil McKenzie for a long time. He taught me how to bat in Test cricket. So, I am confident to make my debut memorable,” Saif told the media.

Along with the new guys, the onus will be on Tamim Iqbal, captain Mominul Haque and Mahmudullah Riyad. All of them hit centuries in the first round of the ongoing Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL).

Tigers will come back after this Test and travel to Pakistan again in April to play one ODI and the second and last Test of the series in Karachi.

https://en.prothomalo.com/sports/news/208994/Bangladesh-cricketeres-leave-Dhaka-for-Pakistan
 
Lets hope weather is better than SL test, also hope light holds up better later in day. Fawad should come in sohail. pakistan need to put a dominant performance in here.
 
Some rumours that Pakistan might go in with 5 batsmen, Rizwan, Faheem, Bilal and the three pacers. So Yasir might not make it.
 
If Pakistan have picked Faheem , needs to back him . If he can be sorted out , he can be useful for Pakistan in OD also. He can add good depth to the side , but needs to be backed and his role has to be defined properly , as a bowling all rounder
 
Why’s no one hyped for this match?

The way BCB Chief Mr. Nazm ul Hassan Papon behaved initially in harassing PCB and not giving the decision whether they'll tour or not, play tests or only T20 drove out the enthusiasm people had from this tour. Also the horrid scheduling, T20s in January, then one test in February, next Bangladesh team comes in March for one ODI flies out the same day then comes back in April to play one Test, this is horrible and hilarious at the same time.
Bangladeshi players unlike Sri Lanka players stay in their hotel mostly plus MISBAH is another factor.
 
Some rumours that Pakistan might go in with 5 batsmen, Rizwan, Faheem, Bilal and the three pacers. So Yasir might not make it.

South Africa recently lost 6 points in Test championship for slow over-rate. They didn't play any spinner. I think Pakistan should play at least one spinner to avoid penalty.
 
The way BCB Chief Mr. Nazm ul Hassan Papon behaved initially in harassing PCB and not giving the decision whether they'll tour or not, play tests or only T20 drove out the enthusiasm people had from this tour. Also the horrid scheduling, T20s in January, then one test in February, next Bangladesh team comes in March for one ODI flies out the same day then comes back in April to play one Test, this is horrible and hilarious at the same time.
Bangladeshi players unlike Sri Lanka players stay in their hotel mostly plus MISBAH is another factor.

The last leg of the tour will happen in April and Bangladesh would play both the odi and 2nd test in same stint. They are not coming in March.
 
ICC confirms match officials for Rawalpindi Test

Lahore, 5 February 2020:

Richie Richardson will return to Pakistan as a match referee when he officiates the ICC World Test Championship fixture between Pakistan and Bangladesh, which commences on Friday, in Rawalpindi as the ICC confirmed the match officials’ appointments.

Richardson’s Playing Control Team includes Nigel LIong and Chris Gaffaney as on-field umpires, Marais Erasmus as TV umpire and Shozab Raza as the fourth umpire.

Richardson last toured Pakistan in September 2017 for the three ICC World XI T20Is at Lahore – which was also his first visit to the country as a match official.

The former West Indian cricketer toured Pakistan six times as a player and featured in six Tests and 21 ODIs between 1985 and 1996.

This is the first instance that Gaffaney and Erasmus will tour Pakistan, while Llong, who has officiate six ODIs across Karachi (3), Lahore (2), and Multan (1), will return after more than a decade. He last stood as an on-field umpire in Pakistan during the ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in January 2009.

The first Test of the two-match series will be played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium from 7-11 February.

Match officials’ appointments:

7-11 February – 1st Test. Nigel Llong and Chris Gaffaney (on-field), Marais Erasmus (third umpire), Shozab Raza (fourth umpire); Sir Richie Richardson (match referee)
 
My 11 will be:

1) Shan Masood
2) Abid Ali
3) Azhar Ali
4) Babar Azam
5) Fawad Alam
6) Asad Shafiq
7) Rizwan
8) Bilal Asif
9) Muhammad Abbas
10) Shaheen Afridi
11) Naseem Shah
 
Some rumours that Pakistan might go in with 5 batsmen, Rizwan, Faheem, Bilal and the three pacers. So Yasir might not make it.

Good call in my opinion. Wickets have provided more support for pacers and keeping it tight isnt what Yasir can do. 5 bowlers would mean ideal scenario for young pacers like Shaheen and Naseem who can go with short spells.

I hope Faheem can do decently with the bat in the format which is his strongest in terms of batting as it can provide much needed cushion for young pacers for future.
 
I really hope Fawad gets a game

Doesnt look like its happening as Pak might be going with 5 bowling options:

Abid
Shan
Azhar
Babar
Asad
Rizwan
Faheem
Bilal
Shaheen
Abbas
Naseem
 
BD can be decent in Asia and Pak will need to play professional cricket.
 
i hope we dont drop harris sohail ... he shld be in both ODI and tests .... no3 in tests no4 in odis with Babar as no3 in odi and no4 in test..

one we shld def drop is asad shafiq.... he is the most useless player in the xi .. drop him for fawad
 
Some pictures from pre-series activity (courtesy of the PCB)

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EQBeSe5XkAEvbE4
 
Unfortunately Misbah will not play Fawad. He will use the excuse that Haris is the incumbent, but Fawad has been denied for 10 years (including during Misbah’s captaincy), so he surely has more of a case!

Anyway, am pretty sure Haris will play ahead of Fawad. Both are good players. But Fawad, imo, is better and more deserving after a 10 year struggle. It really saddens the heart to think about what Pak cricket did to this guy. He deserved way more chances. Difficult to fathom the level of arrogance from whoever blocked him from within the PCB. Imagine what these guys would have done to Steve Smith if he was Pakistani!
 
Unfortunately Misbah will not play Fawad. He will use the excuse that Haris is the incumbent, but Fawad has been denied for 10 years (including during Misbah’s captaincy), so he surely has more of a case!

Anyway, am pretty sure Haris will play ahead of Fawad. Both are good players. But Fawad, imo, is better and more deserving after a 10 year struggle. It really saddens the heart to think about what Pak cricket did to this guy. He deserved way more chances. Difficult to fathom the level of arrogance from whoever blocked him from within the PCB. Imagine what these guys would have done to Steve Smith if he was Pakistani!

Looks likely that neither of Fawad or Haris will play, Pakistan are rumoured to be considering playing with 5 batsmen only for the first Test.
 
Looks likely that neither of Fawad or Haris will play, Pakistan are rumoured to be considering playing with 5 batsmen only for the first Test.

I think that would be really silly if they do that ..you cant be overconfident has to be four bowler strategy as your batters are not good enough in my opinion and we dont have an allrounder
 
Looks likely that neither of Fawad or Haris will play, Pakistan are rumoured to be considering playing with 5 batsmen only for the first Test.

Very strange tactic... I haven’t heard the rumours but assume you have good information.. why do we need five bowlers in Pakistan? If you are playing two spinners, you do not need three seamers. If you play four seamers, then, unless it is a green, swinging wicket, again, don’t understand the thought process...

Only reasons I can think of -

1. Overconfidence - Misbah is experimenting with the test squad again despite it not being a ‘laboratory’ as he said. He wants to test out Faheem/Bilal but does not want to drop Yasir?
2. They want to play Naseem Shah but do not want to overburden him so are playing an extra seamer.

Either way, seems like muddled thinking to me. Just be clear: Put your best XI out now and see how they go, then start tinkering when performances don’t come or when conditions are unusual. Don’t just experiment for the sake of it.
 
Yasir is past it but would still prefer him to Bilal Asif.
 
Very strange tactic... I haven’t heard the rumours but assume you have good information.. why do we need five bowlers in Pakistan? If you are playing two spinners, you do not need three seamers. If you play four seamers, then, unless it is a green, swinging wicket, again, don’t understand the thought process...

Wickets are gonna be supportive of pace bowling atleast that is what the management wants. Shaheen and Naseem are quite young and ideally there should be a 5th bowler to share some workload. Also Rizwan has shown good ability with the bat in longer formats while Faheem did well in QAE’s 3 matches he played. Faheem scored couple of 50s in 3 matches and took a 5fer in the final.
 
Very strange tactic... I haven’t heard the rumours but assume you have good information.. why do we need five bowlers in Pakistan? If you are playing two spinners, you do not need three seamers. If you play four seamers, then, unless it is a green, swinging wicket, again, don’t understand the thought process...

Only reasons I can think of -

1. Overconfidence - Misbah is experimenting with the test squad again despite it not being a ‘laboratory’ as he said. He wants to test out Faheem/Bilal but does not want to drop Yasir?
2. They want to play Naseem Shah but do not want to overburden him so are playing an extra seamer.

Either way, seems like muddled thinking to me. Just be clear: Put your best XI out now and see how they go, then start tinkering when performances don’t come or when conditions are unusual. Don’t just experiment for the sake of it.

Reason why i think they'll play both Faheem and Bilal is because of their promotion on the PCB Facebook page showing their performances in the final but it'll probably just be one drop Bilal in for Yasir. I'm still disgusted with why Bhatti (don't really care for Misbah's excuse, can't just unjustly drop a guy without giving him a game) was dropped and why we are persisting with a 4th opener in Imam.
 
Yasir is past it but would still prefer him to Bilal Asif.

I guess if Bilal plays the ask from him would be just to keep it tight while pacers try do the bulk of the wicket taking. I am not fond of Bilal but a finger spinner has more likelihood to keep it tight than a leggy. That is why all the SENA countries play finger spinners to support their pace attack on supporting wickets.
 
Reason why i think they'll play both Faheem and Bilal is because of their promotion on the PCB Facebook page showing their performances in the final but it'll probably just be one drop Bilal in for Yasir. I'm still disgusted with why Bhatti (don't really care for Misbah's excuse, can't just unjustly drop a guy without giving him a game) was dropped and why we are persisting with a 4th opener in Imam.

Bhatti is definitely a tough one. Misbah mentioned that few guys who arent part of the squad can also be called if required as its a home series so Pak can do that. Bhatti definitely deserves his opportunity. Reason for Bilal is probably number of lefties in BD lineup.
 
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Bhatti is definitely a tough one. Misbah mentioned that few guys who arent part of the squad can also be called if required as its a home series so Pak can do that. Bhatti definitely deserves his opportunity. Reason for Bilal is probably number of lefties in BD lineup.

How many lefties will Bangladesh probably have in their line up?
 
Wickets are gonna be supportive of pace bowling atleast that is what the management wants. Shaheen and Naseem are quite young and ideally there should be a 5th bowler to share some workload. Also Rizwan has shown good ability with the bat in longer formats while Faheem did well in QAE’s 3 matches he played. Faheem scored couple of 50s in 3 matches and took a 5fer in the final.

Yes, I think they are thinking along those lines as well, but I really don’t see what a fourth seamer will bring to the table if three of them can’t do the job on Pakistani pitches. You would expect there to be some purchase for the spinners as well - it is Pakistan after all. I know BD’s strength would be playing spin so they want seamer friendly wickets, and Pindi does provide the most seam friendly wickets in the country, but still, don’t think it’ll be a 220 par score pitch. If it is a 300+ par score pitch, that means that your spinner(s) will be playing a role in the game. It seems a bit muddled to me tbh. We are not playing in England. In any subcontinental country, does any asian team ever play 4 seamers? I can’t remember a single instance.

Plus our batting is so weak and Fawad Alam needs to be tried out - why would you compromise the batting even further by playing only five?
 
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Yes, I think they are thinking along those lines as well, but I really don’t see what a fourth seamer will bring to the table if three of them can’t do the job on Pakistani pitches. You would expect there to be some purchase for the spinners as well - it is Pakistan after all. I know BD’s strength would be playing spin so they want seamer friendly wickets, and Pindi does provide the most seam friendly wickets in the country, but still, don’t think it’ll be a 220 par score pitch. If it is a 300+ par score pitch, that means that your spinner(s) will be playing a role in the game. It seems a bit muddled to me tbh. We are not playing in England. In any subcontinental country, does any asian team ever play 4 seamers? I can’t remember a single instance.

Plus our batting is so weak and Fawad Alam needs to be tried out - why would you compromise the batting even further by playing only five?

I want fawad to play as well. But I read that they want faheem in so that be can ease the workload on the fast bowlers
 
EQGG6VEX0AAwiGm


President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi hosted Pakistan and Bangaldesh teams and officials at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, Islamabad.
 
Fawad Alam - could he be in the playing XI tomorrow?
 
Pak is in for a surprise if they take BD lightly, they can be pretty lethal if the pitch suits them.
 
Pak is in for a surprise if they take BD lightly, they can be pretty lethal if the pitch suits them.

Definitely and our batting is quite iffy. Taijul Islam could be a handful against us.

Pakistan need to put same effort in every test because it’s a team still in development stage post misyou and Yasir, Azhar losing form have made the transition trickier.


Weather is still pretty cold in pindi, my hometown so I expect a seamer friendly pitch like SL/Pak test
 
I would definitely like 2 AR combo specially if pitch is pace friendly but Bilal is actually a worse batsman and bowler than past it Yasir shah. Should have gone with shadab ahead of Bilal
 
Pre series activity (courtesy of PCB)

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 48.583%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/s/2f0wc/asxeiw" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
Pak is in for a surprise if they take BD lightly, they can be pretty lethal if the pitch suits them.

Pakistan will produce pitches which support pacers, as they did for Sri Lanka. Bangladesh don't have a pacer who is fit to tie even Faheem Ashraf's boots.
 
Here's my brief [yet expert] analysis on the Bangladesh squad:

1) Tamim - was in sensational form in his last Test series in NZ. Looks to be back to his best with a Bangladesh first class record score of 334 not out last week. The responsibility will be largely on his shoulders to build the innings.

2) Saif Hasan - Solid FC record behind him, but I think he'd be ideal batting at first drop. He did not look to be a Test class batsmen in the 2018 U-19 World Cup, so unless he's improved his technique considerably, he may struggle here.

3) Nazmul Hossain Shanto - Selected for a Test match primarly due to so many injuries in first choice batsmen, so the question will be can he translate his BPL form into Test matches.

4) Mominul - Has an away average of just 21, which drops further to 8 in the past few years. I've always thought he was more suited to batting at 4 than at 3, so lets see what he does.

5) Mithun - Poor selection, IMO. Mushfiq will hopefully take his place for the Zimbabwe Test. Don't have any expectations from him.

6) Riyad - Needs to step up as the elder statesmen. Decent form the past year or so.

7) Liton - Needs to average more than 25 to justify all the faith in him from the selectors for little payoff so far.

8) Taijul - Decent bowler, but is batting 2 slots too high IMO.

9) Rubel/Nayeem - Nayeem is the better pick regardless of pitch conditions.

10) Jayed - Only bowls 125-130 but can move both the new and old balls.

11) Ebadat - Has decent pace, and showed in India that he can contain from one end while Jayed takes the wickets. Would like to see him bowl with some fire and aggression especially if the wickets have a bit of pace/bounce.
 
Let me guess......

Bangladesh fields its worst attack ever, and Azhar Ali scores a cheap century to ensure that he gets to make a fool of himself in England in four months’ time....
 
Let me guess......

Bangladesh fields its worst attack ever, and Azhar Ali scores a cheap century to ensure that he gets to make a fool of himself in England in four months’ time....

I don’t think Rawalpindi will be much different than cloudy English summer. So scoring will take some effort specially on first 2 days
 
Let me guess......

Bangladesh fields its worst attack ever, and Azhar Ali scores a cheap century to ensure that he gets to make a fool of himself in England in four months’ time....

This is probably actually Bangladesh's best attack ever. It is one our most inexperienced, but that doesn't mean its the worst.

Abu Jayed bowled superbly in India, got Kohli lbw for a duck. He's a swing bowler. Ebadat bowled well in Kolkata and bowled a couple of jaffas to get Pujara and one other guy out. Nayeem Hasan if he plays, is a very talented off spin bowler.

It may not be as good as Australia's attack, but on a sporting wicket, they could bloody some noses.
 
This is probably actually Bangladesh's best attack ever. It is one our most inexperienced, but that doesn't mean its the worst.

Abu Jayed bowled superbly in India, got Kohli lbw for a duck. He's a swing bowler. Ebadat bowled well in Kolkata and bowled a couple of jaffas to get Pujara and one other guy out. Nayeem Hasan if he plays, is a very talented off spin bowler.

It may not be as good as Australia's attack, but on a sporting wicket, they could bloody some noses.

Just curious what’s the pace Bangladesh seamers bowl at?


I think pindi pitch will suit fast bowlers
 
Just curious what’s the pace Bangladesh seamers bowl at?


I think pindi pitch will suit fast bowlers

In first spell, Jayed will reach 134K+, Edabat 140K+, Al-Amin 130K+, Soumya 125K+ If Jayed was just 4-5 K faster, I would have loved to see PAK batting against him on first morning.
 
I have absolutely no clue of the Pindi track and didn't look for this Test due to U19 WC. Normally, Pindi helps pacers, but there is some spin on that track as well. I think, BD will be caught in between 3+1 or 2+2 combination. Taijul should play as the only spinner and for PAK's struggle against SLAO spin, but I would have loved to see Nayeem as well. I am sure Soumya will play, which gives an additional pacer's option - unless it's a green track, I'll actually play Nayeem and drop Al Amin.

Most likely playing XI

1. Tamim
2. Saif
3. Shanto/Mithun
4. *Momin
5. Mahmudullah
6. +Liton
7. Soumya
8. Nayeem
9. Taijul
10. Ebadat/Al Amin
11. Rahi
 
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