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| Who will win the 3-test matches trophy - New year will tell |
On the last day of the year 2013, Pakistan seems all set for the first test match, part of the three test matches series, against Sri Lanka at Abu Dhabi starting 31 December 2013.
Pakistan having won the 5-matches ODI series 3-2, feel confident in taking over the Islanders from the Indian Ocean - a feeling that has come from the rather satisfactory perfomance of the batsmen, who otherwise have been unpredictable in the past.
Sri Lanka would be at odds at playing a test match since they haven't played any since March 2013. It may take sometime for them to get into test match mindset from the ODIs they have been playing.
Pakistan, beside its performing batsmen, has a strong and venomous bowling team. No bowler in Sri Lanka's 16-man squad is Junaid Khan's equal, and although Umar Gul has a mediocre record against Sri Lanka, the reverse-swing he gleans on dry pitches may prove potent against the visitors' inexperienced middle order. Saeed Ajmal's contest with Rangana Herath will be an exciting subplot in the series.
In comparison, Suranga Lakmal has never taken more than four wickets in a match and averages 65.75, while Shaminda Eranga has been far from his best in domestic cricket over the past two months.
The probable opposing teams for the first test match at Abu Dhabi may be as under:
Pakistan: 1 Khurram Manzoor, 2 Shan Masood, 3 Mohammad Hafeez/Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Adnan Akmal (wk), 8 Abdur Rehman/ Rahat Ali/ Mohammad Talha, 9 Umar Gul, 10. Saeed Ajmal, 11. Junaid Khan
Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4. Mahela Jayawardene, 5. Lahiru Thirimanne/ Prasanna Jayawardene, 6. Angelo Mathews (capt), 7. Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 8. Sachithra Senanayake/Dilruwan Perera, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Rangana Herath, 11 Shaminda Eranga/Nuwan Pradeep
The first match is scheduled for Dec 31, 2013 - Jan 4, 2014 daily at (10:00 local | 06:00 GMT | 11:00 PKT)
If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favourite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below:
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