Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq is hoping his team can build on their recent good performance while Sri Lanka are looking to end their drought when the two sides meet here in the first of three Tests from Tuesday. The 37-year-old Misbah took over as Test captain following a spot-fixing scandal in England last year and has since batted superbly to help Pakistan draw series against a formidable South Africa and the West Indies.
He also lifted Pakistan to away wins over New Zealand and Zimbabwe and hopes to carry on the good work against Sri Lanka, who have lost their last two series against England and Australia — both 1-0 — since Tillakaratne Dilshan took over earlier this year. Misbah hopes his team will continue their recent winning streak. “The morale is good, and everyone knows his role,” Misbah said on Sunday.
“Cricket is a team game and since everyone knows his role we have been consistent in Tests and building on.” Misbah leads a batting line-up which is a mixture of youth and experience with veteran Younis Khan and talented players like Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq. Since taking over as captain Misbah has scored 704 in eight Tests at 78.22 and will be Pakistan’s mainstay against the Sri Lankan spin duo of Rangana Herath and Suraj Randiv — both trying to overcome the loss of legendary off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
Sri Lanka have not won a Test, losing three and drawing eight Tests, since Muralitharan bade farewell to Test cricket after taking a world record of 800 wickets. But Misbah said Sri Lanka were still a good team. “Sri Lanka no doubt is one of the best teams, especially in these conditions so we have to play well to beat them,” said Misbah. Dilshan, 34, is looking to improve his captaincy as well as his batting form after contributing just one half-century against Australia, an 83 in the final Test at Colombo last month.
“We have a very young bowling unit and I think they are getting experience, so I hope they are now ready to do their job and establish the team in the Tests,” said Dilshan. Apart from Dilshan, Sri Lanka have the experience of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara — both in the twilight of their careers — and all-rounders Angelo Mathews, Tharanga Paranavitana and Prasanna Jayawardene to put solid totals on the board. Ironically, bowlers from the both the sides will have to toil hard as wickets in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been on the slower side, but could help spinners on the final two days.
Pakistan have a better pace attack with Umar Gul (125 wickets) boosting the department after being rested in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, with left-arm pacemen Wahab Riaz and Junaid Khan, and Aizaz Cheema in support. Pakistan will also look to Saeed Ajmal in the spin department. The remaining two Tests will be played in Dubai (October 26-30) and Sharjah (November 3-7). The Test series will be followed by five one-day internationals and one Twenty20 match.
Pakistan had hoped to host Sri Lanka but an attack on a Karachi military base forced the Islanders to turn down the invitation in May this year and the series was shifted to UAE. International cricket has been suspended in Pakistan since a militant attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in March 2009. Squads and officials for the first cricket Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka starting at the Abu Dhabi Stadium on Tuesday:
Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Adnan Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan.
Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Angelo Mathews, Tharanga Paranavitana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Prasanna Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal, Rangana Herath, Suraj Randiv, Chanaka Welegedara, Suranga Lakmal, Kosala Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Kaushal Silva.
Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL) and Rodney Tucker (AUS)
Tv umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)
Match referee: David Boon (AUS)
Dilshan puts onus on fast bowlers
ABU DHABI – Tillakaratne Dilshan has said the future of Sri Lanka’s bowling lay in the hands of the fast men, and not spinners who have been their traditional strength. “In the past 20 years or so we have depended on the spin of [Muttiah] Muralitharan for our success,” Dilshan said before the team left for the UAE to meet Pakistan in a series of three Tests, five ODIs and a one-off Twenty20 International.
“Murali is a bowler who can take six-eight wickets in an innings, we have still not found anyone who can do it consistently as him. The future for our success lies with our fast bowlers. In the spin department only Rangana Herath has proved himself a top-quality bowler. If we hope to win Test matches we will have to have the support of the other spinners as well.” Sri Lanka suffered a blow when one of their most promising young fast bowlers Shaminda Eranga was ruled out of the tour with a shoulder injury to his bowling arm. He has been replaced by allrounder Kosala Kulasekara. Sri Lanka are taking five fast bowlers and two spinners to the UAE.
Dilshan said that he was not duly worried that Sri Lanka had yet to record a win in their previous 11 Tests. “We have lost two matches and drawn nine and that is not a bad record. We lost the two Tests to very good sides England and Australia, one of them was due to a poor batting performance at Cardiff and in the other at Galle the toss played a crucial role. If you look back on the rest of our performances I am quite satisfied.” Dilshan said that he was confident his team would be able to end their win drought in UAE. “Pakistan has a mix of experienced and young talent in their line-up. It won’t be easy beating them but it will be a good challenge. I think we can take on that challenge and beat them.
“We have not played Test matches in the UAE but we have watched videos of the Tests played there by Pakistan. I don’t know what the conditions and the pitch will be like playing a Test series during this time of the year there.” Since taking over the reins from Kumar Sangakkara, Dilshan first had former Australia cricketer Stuart Law as interim coach for the tour to England and then former Sri Lanka fast bowler Rumesh Ratnayake playing a similar role in the recently concluded home series against Australia, before Sri Lanka Cricket eventually found a permanent successor to Trevor Bayliss who quit at the end of the 2011 World Cup in April. cricinfo
