SLPL will help Pakistan prepare for World T20 – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 – Cricket News Update
Pakistan’s T20 skipper Mohammad Hafeez feels the ongoing Sri Lankan Premier League would help him and his teammates prepare for the upcoming http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World T20 Championship, to be held in Sri Lanka in September.
During an interview with DNA http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 on Sunday the right-handed top order batsman said that after playing in the IPL-style Sri Lankan Twenty20 league, his side will not have any trouble in getting acclimatized to the playing conditions, when they will come back to the Island nation for the T20 World Cup next month.
“Most of Pakistani players in the T20 World Cup squad are in the SLPL and two venues (RPS Colombo and Pallekele) will host the T20 World Cup and so it will help us. We will get into the groove easily,” said Hafeez, who is playing for Wayamba United in the inaugural edition of the Sri Lankan Premier League.
Pakistan cricket team toured Sri Lanka in June-July. Though they lost the Test and ODI series and managed to draw the T20 series against the Islanders, it provided them a fair idea of the playing conditions in Sri Lanka.
They hardly had a month break before going into the limited overs series against Australia in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758’s domestic T20 league, according to Hafeez.
“[But] the PCB gave permission to play in SLPL as it thinks it would be helpful for us since the World Cup will be held here in a few days time,” he added.
Pakistan have been pooled in Group D in the 12-team mega event, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747, and will open up their World Cup campaign against the Black Caps, at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele, on September 23.
Besides Hafeez, former skippers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saeed-Ajmal-c87859 were also part of the Twenty20 league.
All of the players have now departed for national duty, a limited-overs series against Australia in the UAE. The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 series, comprising three ODIs and three T20Is, gets underway in Sharjah from August 28.
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