DAMBULA, July 29: After a 2-0 drubbing at the hands of Sri Lanka, Pakistan will look to take revenge their loss in the five-match ODI series which will kick off at Dambullaon Thursday.
Despite the one-sided nature of the test series, it will be difficult predicting the same result for the ODIs as well. And this has to do with the new-look Pakistani team, which looks pretty balanced on paper. The first game will obviously set the trend, and the visitors will defenitely try to start the series with winning note.
Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, the venue of the day-night match, has sitting capacity of more than 16,000. The stadium was built in 2000 and the first match took place in March 2000 was between England and Sri Lanka. The pitch is considered to be good for bowlers.
Pakistan had made few changes in their team that played in the test series and with a squad of 16 players, it could just get tricky. Starting with the openers, Salman Butt and Khurram Manzoor have been shown the door from the test side, and in their place is the very explosive Imran Nazir and Nasir Jamshed. Nazir will possibly walk into the side and Kamran Akmal, wicket keeper batsman, will be his opening partner. Middle order will be lead by captain Mohammad Yousuf him self along with .Shahid Afridi Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq.
For Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya will look to reverse the bad run in the IPL as well as in the ICC World T20 and the fifty overs format perhaps will help him settle down.
Kumar Sangakkara on the other hand, will be fresh from a match-saving century, and will carry forward that confidence in the series. but the side miss the absence of experience fast bowler Chaminda Vaas. Vaas recently retired from test cricket and the eselectors didn’t consider him for the odi series.
Meanshile Younis Khan, the Pakistan captain, has said that his players will look to play out Muttiah Muralitharan, and not give him too many wickets in the ODI series. “Murali is a matchwinner for Sri Lanka and everybody knows that if he bowls his ten overs he will put Sri lanka in a good position, ” Younis said. “We will be working on not giving Murali wickets.”
It may be mentioned here that Muralitharan, who returns to the Sri Lanka side after missing the 2-0 victory in the three-Test series for a knee injury, boasts an impressive record against the visitors. He has taken 88 wickets in 60 games against Pakistan
Younis also stressed on the importance of getting off to a winning start in the first ODI in Dambulla on Thursday, and said the team would need to regroup and start afresh after the defeat in the Test series.
Despite the one-sided nature of the test series, it will be difficult predicting the same result for the ODIs as well. And this has to do with the new-look Pakistani team, which looks pretty balanced on paper. The first game will obviously set the trend, and the visitors will defenitely try to start the series with winning note.
Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, the venue of the day-night match, has sitting capacity of more than 16,000. The stadium was built in 2000 and the first match took place in March 2000 was between England and Sri Lanka. The pitch is considered to be good for bowlers.
Pakistan had made few changes in their team that played in the test series and with a squad of 16 players, it could just get tricky. Starting with the openers, Salman Butt and Khurram Manzoor have been shown the door from the test side, and in their place is the very explosive Imran Nazir and Nasir Jamshed. Nazir will possibly walk into the side and Kamran Akmal, wicket keeper batsman, will be his opening partner. Middle order will be lead by captain Mohammad Yousuf him self along with .Shahid Afridi Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq.
For Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya will look to reverse the bad run in the IPL as well as in the ICC World T20 and the fifty overs format perhaps will help him settle down.
Kumar Sangakkara on the other hand, will be fresh from a match-saving century, and will carry forward that confidence in the series. but the side miss the absence of experience fast bowler Chaminda Vaas. Vaas recently retired from test cricket and the eselectors didn’t consider him for the odi series.
Meanshile Younis Khan, the Pakistan captain, has said that his players will look to play out Muttiah Muralitharan, and not give him too many wickets in the ODI series. “Murali is a matchwinner for Sri Lanka and everybody knows that if he bowls his ten overs he will put Sri lanka in a good position, ” Younis said. “We will be working on not giving Murali wickets.”
It may be mentioned here that Muralitharan, who returns to the Sri Lanka side after missing the 2-0 victory in the three-Test series for a knee injury, boasts an impressive record against the visitors. He has taken 88 wickets in 60 games against Pakistan
Younis also stressed on the importance of getting off to a winning start in the first ODI in Dambulla on Thursday, and said the team would need to regroup and start afresh after the defeat in the Test series.
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