Pakistan bowl first in Sri Lanka decider

Lanky paceman Mohammad Irfan was recalled Friday to the 16-man Pakistan squad for the five-match one-day series against Sri Lanka starting later this month.

Junaid played the first two Tests of the ongoing series in Sri Lanka but made little impact.

He will play just two more Tests against India in August before retiring.

Jayawardene quit a year ago, leaving Angelo Mathews’ men the unenviable task of going into the decider at the Pallekele worldwide Stadium with a young, inexperienced batting unit. Most of the time we won’t get the result we want, individually, or as a team.

Sri Lanka were asked to bat by Pakistan on an unevenly grassy pitch against three fast bowlers, but Upul Tharanga and Dimuth Karunaratne survived that test through to lunch with a positive approach.

With the three-match series locked at 1-1, Sri Lanka edged along to their total for the loss of eight wickets and would have been in deeper trouble had Dimuth Karunaratne not posted a brilliant 130.

“We really need to win the game”, he said. “We will not be happy with a draw”. Three seamers and Yasir Shah are in.

Herath who has been the tormentor of the Pakistani batsmen over the years has been unsuccessful in this series capturing only two wickets in the first two Tests.

Pakistan have to win the Sri Lanka collection to have any probability of qualifying for the 2017 Champions Trophy in England.

Pace spearhead Wahab Riaz was sidelined with a fractured hand, and Mohammad Hafeez was not available since he has to be tested after being reported for a suspect action in the first Test. Since then, Sri Lanka have played 20 home Tests with Herath playing all but one (due to an injury).

If Chameera is unfit, seamer Suranga Lakmal will make his first appearance in the series to share the new ball with Dhammika Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep.

Pakistan are now ninth in the one-day rankings and need to move up a place in order to play the Champions Trophy.

“Even if he’s not getting wickets, he’s preventing batsmen from getting quick runs”, said Mathews, defending the veteran spinner.

Squad in full: Azhar Ali (captain), Ehsan Adil, Mukhtar Ahmed, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Rahat Ali, Bilal Asif, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan, Shoaib Malik, Asad Shafiq, Yasir Shah, Ahmed Shezad, Imad Wasim.