Sri Lanka will visit Pakistan once again, and the narrative tapestry of this kind does not come by often, additionally, Test Cricket does not come often in Pakistan. Pakistan fans and players are in joyous mood as they are hosting Test Cricket in Pakistan. In September Sri Lanka had a successful series as Sri Lanka won the 6 match series 3-2 (first match was abandoned). Sri Lanka will play a Test Match in Pakistan after over 10 years as last time in March 2009 the Sri Lanka team were attack by 12 gunmen.
However, keeping the joy of hosting a Test Match in Pakistan against Sri Lanka, Pakistan will have to be at their best in the game. In Australia, Pakistan’s onfield performance was miserable, not onlt it was a bad start for Azhar Ali as a captain but Pakistan’s WTC Campaign could not have gotten a much worse start. Pakistan has the opportunity to set the record straight with the 2 match Test series against Sri Lanka starts from tomorrow at Rawalpindi.
More than anything, it is Pakistan’s bowlers who need to pull up their socks as they were bashed by the Australian Batsmen, however, that can be overseen as the bowlers are young and just starting their international careers. The bowlers, though were criticised, have immense potential in them and will surely benefit from the fact that they are playing in home and Rawalpindi is one of the best seamer friendly pitches in Pakistan.
Sri Lanka is not coming in with a very good year that they can flaunt, however the year has been “unpredictable” for them. Sri Lanka lost against Australia and New Zealand, but then beat South Africa in their home, and then later held New Zealand to draw again, and all of this in just 1 year.
Sri Lanka is not only brining a full strength team, they are also headed by Pakistan’s former Coach, Mickey Arthur, who was sacked by Pakistan after Pakistan’s poor performance in the World Cup. Mickey Arthur would definitely want to settle the score here.
Having said all this, what happens on the cricket ground is open to guess, whether the match will add to the list of many memorable performance that Rawalpindi has witnessed like Rahul Dravid’s 270 runs, or Damien Fleming’s Debut game hat-trick or it will just be an ordinary game. No matter what, there is one thing that is sure that the match will be worth it.
The match will commence at 10: AM (Local Time) on the 11th of December 2019 at Rawalpindi.
Pakistan Squad: Shan Masood, Imam-ul-Haq, Azhar Ali(c), Haris Sohail, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Yasir Shah, Kashif Bhatti, Shaheen Afridi, Babar Azam, Mohammad Abbas, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Imran Khan, Usman Shinwari, Abid Ali, Naseem Shah
Sri Lanka return to Pakistan, this time to play 2 Tests after over 10 years Sri Lanka Squad: Dimuth Karunaratne(c), Lahiru Thirimanne, Dilruwan Perera, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Asitha Fernando, Niroshan Dickwella(w), Kasun Rajitha, Lasith Embuldeniya, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal, Oshada Fernando, Lakshan Sandakan
