Sri Lankan skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DPMD-Jayawardene-c1397, has won the toss in the first of the five-match One Day International (ODI) series and has opted to bat first at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
There were some showers earlier in the day at Pallekele but the overhead conditions have improved and hopefully we will witness a match without rain-interruption. The pitch is hard and nicely rolled but it has a lot of grass on it and is likely to favour the seam bowlers.
Jayawardene and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/HMRKB-Herath-c1559 are also returning in the 50-over format.
Pakistan, on the other hand, have made a number of changes in the team as compared to their T20 line-up. The Green Shirts’ batting struggled in the shortest format of the game but the inclusion of Misbah ul Haq, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Azhar-Ali-c46890 is bound to bring some stability in Pakistan’s batting.
However, Misbah ul Haq and company will be depending on their bowlers to deliver the goods. Historically, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 is not considered to be a good chasing team and the bowlers will have to restrict the home team to a low score, in order to set the platform for their batsmen.
In the last seven ODIs between the two countries, Pakistan have won six, but Misbah understands that his team will have to be at the peak of their game to dismantle Sri Lanka, who he thinks are a hard team to beat at home.
"It's not about one or two players, the whole team have to contribute, because http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 are tough opponents anywhere, especially at home,” Misbah said yesterday.
Sri Lanka’s Chairman of Selectors, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashantha-Lakdasa-Francis-de-Mel-c46253 also admitted that Pakistan have a brilliant combination and it will be a massive challenge for Jayawardene’s men to overcome the threat posed by the Green Shirts.
De Mel expressed, “The advantage the Pakistan team has is that it also has batsmen who can be useful bowlers, for instance opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898, who can bowl off-breaks. This adds a lot of variety to their attack and balances their team nicely.”
Tags: