Sri Lanka vs Pakistan – ODI Series Review
The five-match One Day International (ODI) series in Sri Lanka has proved to be an anti-climax for the Pakistan team as they were tipped to comprehensively win the series but they lost it by a handsome margin of 3-1.
The Green Shirts started the series through an emphatic victory at Pallekele and looked a far superior team as compared to the Islanders. The home team prepared a green-top in the first ODI as they thought that Pakistan’s batting will be vulnerable in bowling-friendly
conditions. However, the strategy backfired and flat batting tracks were witnessed afterwards.
The series was badly hampered by weather as the fourth fixture was washed out and no result was possible. The rain interrupted play in almost all the other matches as well. Let us hope that Sri Lankan cricket officials learn from the experience and take
weather into account before scheduling the venues in future.
In the recent times, Pakistan have enjoyed a massive psychological edge over Sri Lanka but the Islanders will be extremely happy with the outcome of the recently concluded battle. The emergence of Thisara Perera as a prolific all-rounder has been the biggest
positive for the home team as the right-arm seamer picked up 11 scalps in the series, including a five-wicket haul in the 2nd ODI and a hat-trick in the 4th one.
On top of that, Perera displayed his ability to strike the ball hard in the series. His coach, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lance-Klusener-c72175, the former South African cricketer.
Ford believes, "The way he hit the ball the other day he reminded me very much of Lance. He is only 23 and is going to develop and get better and more effective. He is an all-round cricketer just like Lance and contributes in all areas.”
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, on the other hand, look jolted after the defeat as nobody was expecting the Men in Green to go down in such a manner. They failed to find the right combination throughout the five matches and never looked like a settled unit, which is quite surprising
because they recently won the Asia Cup 2012.
The new strategy of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to have different teams for the three formats is probably not suitable for the sporting dynamics of the country as the disturbed approach was quite evident in the team.
Pakistan had a great chance to square the series in the last match but poor team selection led to their downfall as the presence of Saeed Ajmal could have easily sealed the 5th fixture. Misbah ul Haq, the Pakistani skipper admitted the mistake
but expressed that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Sami-c77289 was included in the playing eleven considering the fact that the ball tends to move more in the evening.
"I think given the conditions [we made that choice], the ball swings in the evening. It's a difficult decision to make, regarding the balance of the team. If we play two regular spinners, we miss the third seamer. Leaving out Ajmal though was a costly miss,"
Misbah said.
There is a lot of work to do for Pakistan in the 50-overs format, before they take on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in August.
After winning the ODI series, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Abdur-Rehman-c41691 makes them
a formidable side.
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