Pakistan and Sri Lanka will play their first Super Eight game of twenty20 world cup 2009 tomorrow (Friday) when they will face each other in an important match at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. The performance of Pakistan and Sri Lanka so far in the tournament has been pretty much contrasting. Sri Lanka reached the last eight after winning both of their group matches against Australia and West Indies, while Pakistan needed to face a threat of early elimination when they were defeated by England in the opening game, but Younis Khan and his team successfully defeated Netherlands to reach the Super Eight stage.
Match: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, Group F, Super Eight, ICC World Twenty20 2009
Date: 12 June 2009
Venue: Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, England
Kick off: 12:30 GMT (Local Time13:30)
Pakistan is the most successful team in twenty20 international with 14 wins from 18 games. However, their performance so far in the tournament has not very impressive. Moreover, Pakistani players are also suffering from inconsistency, and that is where they need to work on at this moment. They have a number of match winners like Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal etc. They have a strong batting order, but the team management failed to get the best out of the line up. For example, they unnecessarily promoted Shahid Afridi to no. 4 recently, even though the batsman has been struggling for his batting form recently.
Their team selection and combinations have often been controversial. They dropped a match-winner like Sohail Tanvir against England. Shahid Afridi is more effective with the ball these days than with the bat, yet he has ben promoted to No.4. And sending Misbah-Ul-Haq, one of Pakistan's best players and a genuine match-winner, to bat at No. 7 was shocking. They will need to correct these errors.
I also think that Misbah-Ul-Haq, who was instrumental behind Pakistan’s success in the inaugural event of t20 world cup, should be sent much before in the bating order because he can bat through under pressure and keep himself cool. He can rotate the strike by taking singles and doubles, but can also go after the bowlers of opposition side whenever he is asked to do so.
Sri Lanka has been in excellent form of recent. Specially, veteran opener Sanath Jayasuria has once again proved that age can not eat away true class. The player, who is turning 40 next month, smashed West Indies bowling attack as he played a fiery innings of 88 against West Indies in the last match of the group stage. Most importantly, Sri Lanka has got another excellent opening in Tillakaratne Dilshan who is currently the second highest run scorer in the tournament with 127 runs, just 2 runs shy of leading scorer Jacques Kallis.
Though Pakistan’s main bowling strength always lies on their pace attack, now it seems that they have a troublesome spin attack in the presence of Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal and Shoaib Malik. On the other hand, their pace attack includes Sohail Tanvir and Umar Gul. However, it would be a huge boost for Pakistan if all rounder Abdul Razzaq arrives in time before the Sri Lanka match who will be a replacement for pacer all rounder Yasir Arafat. Overall, Pakistan may have a good squad, but they are yet to show their top form so far in the tournament.
Online Live Score and Updates
You can get the live score and updates of the match from several cricket websites including Cricinfo, Cricbuzz and Cricket Next etc.
Given the recent form of both sides, Sri Lanka seems to be ahead of Pakistan to some extend. However, it is twenty20 format where the two teams do not have huge difference between them, and could win any side on a good day. So, I hope that Pakistan and Sri Lanka will live up to the expectation of their fans and present us with a highly entertaining match.
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