 Pakistan will play Sri Lanka in the tenth game of the Cricket World Cup
at the RPS in Colombo. The game will be played on February 26 and will be the
second game for the two sides.
In Pakistan's first game, they had crushed the Kenyan side without any issue,
winning by 205 runs. The batting had started off slowly but once they had got
going, the side had not had any issues at all in getting to the 300-plus score
for themselves. The stars of the game were Misbah and Umar Akmal, both of who
scored 50s apart from the likes of Kamran Akmal and Younis Khan.
Click for Live Score Card of Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan
Sri Lanka had a similar result, as they won by 210 runs against Canada. They
started off slowly in their batting but once Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela
Jayawardene were at the crease, the side went on to pressurise the Canadians
rather well and were off to a 332 total. The Canadian batsmen were no match
for the side.
In this game, what will be interesting to see is whether either side will go
in with any changes. For one, Sri Lanka had missed the presence of Lasith
Malinga in the bowling. They won easily despite that but one gets the sense
that he will be needed for this encounter. The big question if Malinga is fit
is about who will go out of the side as that will make. One gets the sense that
it could be one of Thisara Perera or Nuwan Kulasekera, unfortunately, that will
happen despite both having taken three wickets in the innings.
From Pakistan point of view, the batting did well and so did the bowling
but there are questions on why Wahab Riaz is not in the side. For now though,
it will be difficult to change the winning combination but the pace bowlers
will know that it will be behove them to bowl well or face the risk of being
dumped out for the later games of the tournament.
It will also be interesting to see how the Lankans go about their batting at
the top of the innings. They were slow off the blocks and with the likes of
Dilshan and even Tharanga at the crease, it is difficult to see how they will
continue to do so.
How the spinners go will be something to watch out for. Ajantha Mendis
hasn't had too much success against Pakistan and that could be a turning point
in the game.
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