Abu Dhabi: Having been entrusted with the vice-captaincy, Pakistan’s Asad Shafiq will have a lot to prove when his side takes on Sri Lanka in the Test series starting here at the Shaikh Zayed Stadium on Thursday.

With the retirement of veterans Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan, Shafiq will be the one on whom the team will be banking on to bring stability to the middle order.

However, the going has not been that great of late for Shafiq.

In the last five Tests he has accumulated just 167 runs from nine innings, at an average of 18.55.

Though this is a statistic that the 31-year-old will be looking to get rid of, he brushed aside fears that he is under any sort of pressure going into the series.

“There is no pressure on me as I feel it is time for me, Azhar [Ali] and Sarfraz [Ahmad] who have played around Misbah and Younis to deliver. We have played 50 to 60 odd Test matches with these legends and that experience has been priceless,” said Shafiq adding that the absence of the two greats will be felt but would inspire the team to do well.

“We will try to take more responsibility from now on and play to fill the void they have left behind,” added Shafiq, who acknowledged that he will have to rise further up the batting order to render more stability to the team.

“The discussion right now is on what sort of the batting line Pakistan should go in with for the first Test. It should be sorted by today or tomorrow. Yes there is a possibility that I will move up the order,” said Shafiq, thus clearly indicating that move is to give time for the uncapped players coming in — Haris Sohail and Usman Salahuddin — to settle in the team.

It is certain that at least one of the two would definitely make his debut in the first Test.

“There are new batsmen coming in and the combination will be in such a way that I will bat up the order,” revealed Shafiq, adding the Pakistan team was still a well-balanced team with a quality bowling attack.

“Yasir Shah has so much experience in the spin department and Mohammad Amir is in the best of shape and has been bowling well. [Mir] Hamza has also been bowling well and he has done well in first class cricket. He swings the ball both ways and he has the experience of having played here with the Pakistan ‘A’ team as well. It is good sign for the Pakistan team and there will be lots to learn for the new batsmen coming in from this series,” said Shafiq also said the team was well aware of the strengths of the visitors and won’t be taking anything lightly.

“They have world class spinner in Rangana Herath and in the previous series here he had troubled us. But in the series after that in Sri Lanka you would have seen how well we tackled him. The rest of their spinners are also good so you can expect a good competition,” said Shafiq adding that the Pakistan team has shaped well under the leadership of Sarfraz Ahmed and he has no doubt about the latter’s ability as a the new Test skipper.

“We have no doubts in Sarfaz’s captaincy and we are all ready to give our best. The good thing about Sarfraz is that he carries everyone ahead with him.”