Pakistan, Sri Lanka’s next opponents in the ICC World Test Championship have just concluded a two-Test series in Australia where they were beaten fairly and squarely 2-0 by a team that proved to be far too superior to them. Although the results may sound rather disappointing the experience Pakistan gained playing against a fully-fledged Australian side is certain to stand them in good stead for the Lankan series which will be played on their home turf at Rawalpindi and Karachi.
Pakistan has still get off the mark on points in the Test Championships table and will be keen to do so against Sri Lanka who are coming to the series having drawn 1-all at home to New Zealand four months back. While Pakistan will be fresh after a tough Test series Down Under, the Lankans who are intensely at practice at the Khettarama nets will have their work cut out as they will be going straight into the Test series without a single warm-up game. This is where the Lankans must be pretty wary of because Pakistan can always seize the initiative while the Lankan batters and bowlers are still finding their feet.
The last Test series played between the two countries in October 2017 in the UAE which Pakistan had made as their home base ended in a 2-0 win for Sri Lanka who were led by Dinesh Chandimal. Dimuth Karunaratne the present skipper was the cornerstone of that victory scoring 93 in the first Test at Abu Dhabi and a monumental 196 in the second Test at Dubai. There was also the redoubtable Rangana Herath, the greatest left-arm spinner in Test history and off-spinner Dilruwan Perera, both of whom fashioned out the two wins. Herath has since retired and the onus is now on Perera to carry the Lankan bowling on his shoulders alone with an inexperienced spin attack, which is not going to be easy against a Pakistan line-up that has in their line up the class of Babar Azam who stood head and shoulders above the rest of the Pakistani batting with a brilliant ton on arguably the quickest track in today’s context, the Gabba followed by a sublime 97 in the pink ball Test at Adelaide. Azhar Ali, the Pakistan skipper, lauded Babar’s ability to handle the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc to deliver under pressure. Babar’s will be the key wicket that Sri Lanka should be after.
What the Lankan batsmen should be wary of is the young Pakistan fast bowling attack in the likes of young tearaways like Naseem Shah and Muhammad Musa, and Mohammad Abbas and Shaheen Afridi and the experienced leg-spin of Yasir Shah. The Lankan batters handled Yasir quite well in the last series played on UAE pitches but might find him a handful on the helpful Pakistani tracks.
Those defeats will certainly be on the back of the minds of Pakistan who will relish playing Test cricket for the first time in a decade in front of their home supporters.
The series will break new ground for Pakistan especially as it will bring back Test cricket to the country since 2009 when an attack on the team bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricketers were shot at by gunmen in Lahore which resulted in the cessation of international cricket in the country. Thus it is ironic that it is the same nation that suffered that unexpected ordeal should be responsible for bringing international cricket back to Pakistan. The Test series follows the successful conclusion of Sri Lanka’s one-day team’s (ODI and T20I) tour to Pakistan in October where under tight security the six matches were played without any incidents.
From Sri Lanka’s point of view that tour was also a forewarning to the ten players who decided to forego the one-day tour on the grounds of security concerns as the young and inexperienced team performed quite exceptionally in the T20I sweeping the series 3-0 over the no. 1 ranked team.
So it was no surprise that no one complained about security in Pakistan when it came down to picking the Test team. The selectors had the full complement of players to select and they have picked the best and experienced available. Now it is upto the selected lot to go out there and perform.
Of course Sri Lanka will benefit by the inputs they will get on the Pakistanis from their former coach Mickey Arthur who will accompany them in an unofficial capacity before taking over officially as head coach after the series. All the knowledge they get on the opposition and the planning that goes with it is fine, but the most important aspect is implementing it perfectly in the middle. That will be the challenge for the Lankan players.
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