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Sri Lanka favoured to down Pakistan today
Videocon Asian Emerging Teams Trophy final
By S.R. Pathiravithana
The prevailing unpredictable weather conditions could play a vital role in the final outcome of the Videocon Asian Emerging Teams Trophy final between Sri Lanka and Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Cricket Stadium this morning.

On the present form, unbeaten Sri Lankans are the firm favourites with two wins under their belt-- one each against both visitors, India and today's counterparts, Pakistan. In their first outing the Lankans had very little problems in beating India by nine wickets. In the next game they were equally compelling in beating Pakistan by 94 runs. Pakistan should consider themselves extremely lucky to be out there today.

It was only their facile 37 run victory against India in their opening game followed by some rain affected games have taken them to the final. After losing to Sri Lanka in their second game, Pakistan lost yet again on Friday going down to India by five wickets.

Sri Lanka is leading the tally with 18 points with Pakistan on nine and India on eight.
Sri Lanka's youngsters have done extremely well in this tournament. Their top order batsmen led by opener Tharanga Paranavithana who already has two half centuries against India and Pakistan have proved dependable. Besides Paranavithana, his co-opener Tharanga Dhammika, one drop batsman Jeewan Mendis, skipper Malintha Gajanayake are in good nick at present and could pose problems to any opposition. The Lankan bowling arm also has performed to expectations. First, their three seamers - Nuwan Kulasekera, Tharanga Laksitha and Lasitha Malinga stunned the opposition with fiery spells.

Subsequently when youngster Farveez Mahroof was given the green light he too grabbed the opportunity with both hands and helped himself to 3 for 33 vs Pakistan in a rain affected game. So, at present in the seam bowling department the Lankans have no vacancies. In the spin department off spinner Mutumudalige Pushpakumara and left arm spinner Ranil Dhammika could turn out to be match winners on their own. According to manager Ranjith Samarasekera the final eleven were to be picked after their final session on Saturday.

For Pakistan, their batting has not been as cohesive as the Lankans. Both openers -- Baber Naim and Usman Thariq have scored, but, not on the same occasion. Besides this, one drop batsman Shahid Yousaf scored an elegant 60 runs on Friday, but, on this occasion both Thariq and Baber failed.

In bowling, The Pakistani seamers Fazal Masood, Yasir Arafat and Junaid Zia performed well in their opening game against India, but, it was only Zia who repeated his performance. So far Zia has taken 3 for 35 and 1 for 25 vs India and 3 for 41 against Sri Lanka. Pakistan are billed to make up their final Xl this morning.
The teams:

Sri Lanka - Malintha Gajanayake (Capt), M. Pushpakumara, Praneeth Jayasundara, Tharanga Paranavithana, Sahan Wijeratne, Upul Tharanga, Charith Fernando, Farveez Maharoof, Tharanga Lakshitha, Thilina Kandambi, Jeewan Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Ranil Dhammika, Nuwan Kulasekera.

Pakistan - Qaiser Abbas (Capt), Naeem Babar, Usman Tariq, Aasim Munir, Aamir Sajjad, Fawad Alam, Amin-ur-Rehman, Junaid Zia, Yasir Arafat, Mansoor Amjad, Yasir Ali, Mohamed Khalil, Fahad Masood.

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