A win in Sharjah crucial for Sri Lanka today
With a win each to their tallies both Sri Lanka and Pakistan will make sure to treat the third game with importance as a win will be a crucial factor on their quest to clinch the five-match ODI series. The third ODI match between the evenly poised visiting Sri Lankan and hosting Pakistan sides will be played at Sharjah today as another day-night affair with play scheduled to begin at 4.30pm Sri Lanka time.
A stunning 2-wicket win recorded by Sri Lanka in the second game played at Dubai on Friday leveled the series 1-1 after Pakistan snatched the first game at Sharjah on Wednesday. Both games were high-scoring affairs and given the fact that both sides’ lapses with the respective bowling attacks, today’s game could become yet another high-scoring thriller, as it has been the case when both teams
Tail-enders have been useful for Sri Lanka in the two ODIs played against Pakistan in the UAE - AFP
took on each other in the recent outings. Pakistan scored 322 runs and confined the attacking Sri Lankans to 311 to win the first ODI by 11-runs while despite a heroic 124 from opener Ahmed Shehzad, which helped Pakistan to post 284 runs, Sri Lanka regained their winning ways with a stunning 2-wicket win with two deliveries to spare.
Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews would be a happy man to have his team back in the winning ways while passing his Pakistan counterpart Misbah-ul-Haq the baton of pressure. Sri Lankan batsmen have proved that even the absence of ace batsman Mahela Jayawardene has not hampered their quest of winning games as the top order, Kumar Sangakkara, Kusal Perera, TM Dilshan, Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews in particular finding form. In addition allround performances from Seekkuge Prasanna, Sachithra Senanayake and Nuwan Kulasekara have proven handy for the visitors. The concluded two games depicted that both sides possess the batting prowess but bowling has been the Achilles’ heel for the two Asian subcontinent sides.
As Mathews told reporters he was overall happy at his team’s resilience after the two entertaining games, despite the absence of left-arm spinner Rangana Herath. Despite falling short by inches in the first game he said that his team had to work very hard for the win in the second game.
“Everyone contributed in bits and pieces. We hope to win the series but it will be an exciting one. With Pakistan you have to fight all the time and need to be positive — we can’t give them a chance as they can knock us down so we have to be on our guard and be positive and that’s what we did,” said Mathews who pointed out that the series would be close and tough for both the teams.
In contrast Misbah-ul-Haq’s worries with his bowling attack continued to swell after failing to defend 285 runs on Friday. Even in Pakistan’s narrow 11-run win in the first game in Sharjah on Wednesday, Sri Lankan tail-enders cashed in on some poor end overs bowling and nearly chased down a daunting 323-run target. Pakistan was missing the experience of Mohammad Irfan and Umar Gul — both out of the tour due to injuries.
“Death bowling is an issue for us, we need to address that if we want to win the series. Our fast bowling is not experienced and we are missing the experience of Irfan who had been doing well and also missing Gul. I think our biggest problem used to be batting but I am really happy the way the batting is going on,” he told reporters while adding that his side aims a series win. After today’s game the last two matches will be played in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and Friday.