Asian giants Pakistan and Sri Lanka will face each other in match number 11 of World Cup 2019 at Bristol on Friday.
Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka have tasted identical fortunes in the tournament so far with one loss, to begin with, followed by one win. While Pakistan snared the big fish England, Sri Lanka stumbled to victory against Afghanistan.
Pakistan will definitely go into the match on a high, having upset favourites England in the previous match. Mohammad Hafeez proved why experience matters so much with a match-winning knock. The return to form of skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed is also a big plus, while Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam are already among the runs.
Sri Lanka, while pleased with the comeback win in the last game, would know that they will have it really tough against an inspired Pakistan. Their batting crumbled from 92 for no loss to 201 against Afghanistan, with only Kusal Perera playing an impressive hand. Angelo Mathews, in particular, will need to stand up against Pakistan after his twin failures.
In contrast, they would be extremely pleased with the manner in which the bowlers fought back to achieve a tough victory for the team. The lanky Nuwan Pradeep was the star with four wickets while Lasith Malinga also brought his experience to the fore getting through the lower order with unplayable yorkers.
After the 10-wicket drubbing against New Zealand, it was a much-needed confidence booster for Dimuth Karunaratne and co.
Squads
Pakistan: Sarfaraz Ahmed (c, wk), Asif Ali, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Imam-ul-Haq, Shadab Khan, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz, Haris Sohail, Imad Wasim, Fakhar Zaman
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Avishka Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera (wk), Thisara Perera, Nuwan Pradeep, Dhananjaya de Silva, Milinda Siriwardana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay
--By A Cricket Correspondent
