Pakistan hope to end ‘T20 series’ on positive note

After clinching the five-matches limited over series 3-2, ODI captain Azhar Ali is hopeful Pakistan will repeat the dose in the Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka, earning the team an unprecedented treble against the hosts.

Though he did not mention Chandimal in particular, Malinga suggested that both he and Lahiru Thirimanne had been omitted from the squad against Pakistan because they were known entities, and Sri Lanka sought to test domestic performers at the top level before the World T20.

Sri Lanka have only lost twice in their last 13 outings in the shortest format of the game.

Sri Lanka: Lasith Malinga (c), Tilakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Kithruwan Vithanage, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Chamara Kapugedera, Shehan Jayasuriya, Thisara Perera, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Kulasekara, Binura Fernando, Chaturanga de Silva, Milinda Siriwardene.

Afridi also stressed that they will not take Sri Lanka lightly despite the departure of key players Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

It is not all about fresh blood, though.

Expressing his views about the upcoming T20 global series, he said Mukhtar could play at the opening spot with Ahmed Shahzad while Umar Akmal in the middle order.

Shahid Afridi will be back as skipper for the Twenty20’s and Pakistan will hope that their captain fires them to glory in the T20s.

The veteran all-rounder is without the services of Wahab Riaz, who had been initially named in the 15-man squad in the hope he would be fit to feature. They have just added two uncapped players to their squad in the form of left-arm pacer Zia-ul-Haq and batsman Nauman Anwar.

Although they have plenty of pace options, including the recalled Sohail Tanvir, Pakistan will also hit Sri Lanka with a plethora of slow bowlers.

It was good to have young blood in the team as the fielding of the side had improved remarkably and the energy could be witnessed in the field, he said in his post-match analysis after the fifth and final one-day global against Sri Lanka.

Selector Wijegunawardene admits Sri Lanka’s problems against spin are a major concern, per ESPN Cricinfo: “There is a clear weakness against spin and that needs to be addressed as a matter of priority”. “By the end of this series, we will know which ones of them are good enough to play in global cricket so that they can be a part of our World T20 plans”. The best way for him to do that is by picking up wickets.

The all-rounder scored 188 runs and although he didn’t actually take a wicket, his off-spin only went at 4.92 runs an over.