 Pakistan will look to continue their dominating run against Sri Lanka in the second ODI to be played in Pallekele on Saturday. The hosts are looking for answers to their shortcomings and need plenty of effort to do better than the dismal show in the last match.
Pakistan won the rain-affected first ODI by six wickets, in a comfortable manner
that stretched their run to 17 wins from last 23 matches. Their bowlers were on
top of the game and will again look to expose the gap that divides the two sides.
Click for Live Score Card of Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan
Umar Gul returned to the playing side with three wickets while Mohammad Sami has remained impressive on his comeback trail. Misbah ul Haq will be
pleased by the bowlers showing though 31 extras are a definite area of concern.
The batsmen found the going tough but did enough to chase the small total.
While on paper the batting looks strong, the management knows how fragile it
can be. Younis Khan will be under immense pressure after another failure.
He has only two half-centuries from last 15 innings, including one against Afghanistan.
Sri Lanka would be embarrassed at their performance in the first match as their
campaign to avenge last year's series defeat against Pakistan got off
to a bad start. In testing conditions, their batsmen failed to apply themselves
and lost their way.
Captain Mahela Jaywardene was at a loss of words for what happened on
the field with Lahiru Thirimanne being the only notable scorer with 42.
Tillakaratne Dilshan will need to show more maturity after throwing away his wicket
despite earning chances earlier on. The bowlers, like most times, will be hoping
to have enough runs to play with in order to have a reasonable chance of a win.
The match will be played in Pallekele starting at 2.30pm local time.
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