Pakistan vs Sri Lanka: Crunch time for both contenders – ICC World Cup match preview
Ever unpredictable Pakistan will have a rendezvous with the co-host, Sri Lanka, for their second ICC World Cup 2011 game at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo today. The two big fish of the World Cup have played one match each against the minnows Kenya and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Canada-c748 and both have won their matches with a huge margin of more than 200 runs at the renovated stadium of Hambantota.
The Boys in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 have lambasted Canada with almost the same margin as Pakistan. Apparently Sri Lanka is a well settled team when compared to the cornered tigers. Moreover, Sri Lanka will have an added advantage of home ground and home crowd.
However, Statistics shows that Pakistan still have an upper hand because they have never been beaten by Sri Lanka in the previous six World Cup matches. Both teams have not met in any World cup since the 1992 World cup in which Pakistan was crowned as Champions under the leadership of Imran Khan.
Pakistan will be confident after a convincing triumph over Kenya. In that match Pakistan’s middle order blossomed after a long time and four of its middle order batsmen achieved a milestone of smashing half centuries.
Pakistan captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 is concerned only with the poor performance of the openers, Muhammad Hafeez and Ahmad Shehz, against Kenya.
Afridi said that they must not entirely be satisfied with their performance in the previous match but they are prepared for the match against Sri Lanka. He said that they will play with utmost energy. The Pakistan skipper took a five wickets haul in the match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kenya-c752.
Lasith Malinga, who did not play the first game due to back pain, will hopefully open the bowling with the new ball for Sri Lanka. Afridi was of the view that Malinga is coming back after recovering from an injury which will make it difficult for him to adjust to the hot and humid conditions of the island.
The indigenous weather conditions will test the fitness of the Sri Lankan pace attacker as well as the fitness of Pakistani spearhead, Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar, who does not seem to be entirely fit according to his team coach, manager and the captain.
The wicket of Premadasa stadium is renowned for its slow nature where spin bowlers will play a deciding role. The match will be a crucial one and the team, whose batsmen will play vigilantly and will handle the turning ball carefully, will be victorious towards the end of the day.
The home team has an upper hand as they possess quality spin bowlers and a maestro of off-spin bowling, Muttiah Muralitharan, who is a leading wicket taker in the world in both format of the game.
However, both teams are pretty evenly matched as far as batting is concerned, while in the department of all-rounders, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 definitely have an edge over the Lankan lions.
Today’s match will be definitely a test of mental strength of the men in green as they will be playing in front of 35,000 people who will be supporting the home side.
Pakistan (probable playing XI): Ahmed Shehzad, Muhammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Younus http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi (capt), Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar.
Sri Lanka (probable playing XI): Kumar Sangakkara (capt and wkt), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muttiah-Muralitharan-c78157, Thilan Samaraweera/Chamara Silva, Upul Tharanga
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