Abu Dhabi: At a time when most seniors have pulled out of the three-match Twenty20 series against Pakistan, the last of which will be played in Lahore, Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera has to put up a brave face to lead a 15-man squad to a reversal of fortunes. The action starts at the Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium at 8pm on Thursday.
Sri Lanka ended up losing 5-0 to Pakistan in the One-day series and are currently going through their worst phase in the format, having lost 12 matches in a row. The Islanders have won just four matches of the 26 games overall so far in 2017,
Their Test series win against Pakistan was very much a false dawn that they were on the path of redemption. In fact, that victory had come against a Pakistan side that was looking to rebuild following the exit of heavyweights Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan.
Against an ICC Champions Trophy-winning Pakistan side, the Lankan batters were blown away by sheer pace and suffered five humiliating defeats. The rot is so deep that any effort to stem the slide has fallen flat and pushed them further into the depths.
Lankans have done relatively well in the slam bang though in 2017. They won the series 2-1 against both South Africa and Australia before drawing against Bangladesh 1-1 and their only series loss came against India (1-0).
However, this time around they are not only low on morale but are a depleted side with their limited-overs skipper Upul Tharanga, ace pacer Lasith Malinga, experienced spearhead Suranga Lakmal and key batsmen Niroshan Dickwella and Chamara Kapugedara all withdrawing from the tour of Pakistan over security fears.
Perera, 29, who had toured Pakistan as member of the World XI for a three-match Twenty20 international series played in Lahore last month, had been ordinary in the ODIs with top score of 38.
Leading the side for the first time in his career should hopefully inspire Perera to show some magic with the willow. Though six players from the ODI squad have been retained, the new members joining the side are relatively inexperienced. However, Lankans will be hoping that these young guns might be able to provide a fresh lease of life to change their team’s sagging fortunes.
Dasun Shanka, who is a part of the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team, has been flown in from the Caribbean while Danushka Gunathilaka, who missed the ODIs after being suspended for disciplinary reasons, has been brought back into the squad along with T20I regulars Dilshan Munaweera, Chathuranga de Silva and Isuru Udana.
Pakistan, on the other hand, have behaved like a raging bull from the time they suffered their first Test series defeat in the UAE. They simply crushed their opponents and there are hardly any grey areas where the team needed to improve on. Sarfraz Ahmad had led the team aggressively and used all his resources with aplomb. The good thing with the Pakistan team now is they have a tremendous bench strength and none can take their place for granted anymore.
For the T20s, they have recalled pace spearhead Mohammad Amir, who suffered a shin injury during the second Test in Dubai. Amir was not in the best of form in the Tests and had struggled to be among the wickets. It will be interesting to see how the 25-year-old goes about his business in the T20Is. Also staging a comeback in the squad is spin all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who was dropped for the World XI series. Hafeez was pretty decent in the ODIs.
Ahmad Shehzad, who was dropped following his failures in the two ODIs with forgettable scores of 0 and 8, retains his place but will have a point to prove. In the last T20I against World XI, Shehzad had scored a match-winning 89.
Also keep a close watch on pace bowling all-rounder Amir Yamin, who played his last international match against England in the UAE, in 2015. Yamin will be keen to make this opportunity count following his impressive performance in domestic matches.
