Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Tour of Pakistan, 2019, Today Match Prediction 05 Oct 2019

pak vs srl Match Prediction & Analysis

Pakistan team has been in excellent form in the T20Is over the last 2-3 years. They are currently the No.1 placed T20I team in the ICC rankings for quite a long time. They have lost three of their last four matches off late and would like to get back to their winning ways in this series. Sarfraz Ahmed is yet to lose a T20I series under his captaincy and will look to keep the record intact. Sri Lanka team is yet to win a series after 2018 and is struggling in the limited-overs format. Sri Lankan cricket is on a steady decline in the past few years and they need to arrest the slide.

Sri Lanka missed out on direct qualification to the T20I WC next year and is forced to play the qualifiers. Sri Lanka will be delighted if they manage to pull off some memorable performances against a strong Pakistan team in their home.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Pakistan Preview

Pakistan has retained the core of the ODI team with 12 players finding themselves in both squads. They have recalled Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal for the T20Is after a long gap in the international cricket. Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, and Iftikhar Ahmed showed good form with the bat in the ODIs and are expected to play the first match. Ahmed Shehzad will open the batting as Fakhar Zaman is doubtful owing to his injury. Mohammed Amir, Usman Shinwari, and Wahab Riaz are expected to form the pace bowling department of the team. Mohammed Hasnain might get a game-time ahead of Wahab Riaz in the T20Is. Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan have continued their spin bowling responsibility in the T20Is too.

Key Players:

Babar Azam – Babar Azam is the No.1 ranked T20I batsmen and he leads the chart by a fairway. He scored a brilliant century in the recent ODI series and will look to continue his good form here. Mohammed Amir – Amir picked up 4 wickets and was excellent with the ball in the ODIs. He will be the strike bowler for Pakistan and Sarfraz will turn to him in the crunch moments. Look out for beaming swing balls from Amir.

Pakistan Predicted Playing XI:

Sarfraz Ahmed (C & Wk), Babar Azam, Ahmed Shahzad, Umar Akmal, Haris Sohail, Imad Wasim, Mohammed Amir, Wahab Riaz/Mohammed hasnain, Usman Shinwari, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed

Pakistan Actual Playing XI:

Mohammad Amir, SI Wasim, Babar Azam, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hasnain, Umar Akmal, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Sarfraz Ahmed

Sri Lanka Preview

Sri Lanka will have a new skipper in the form of Dasun Shanaka for the T20I format in this series and it will be exciting to see how he leads the team. Sri Lanka team showed a good fight in both the matches despite losing ion both the occasions in the ODIs. Danushka Gunathilaka, Shehan Jayasuriya, and Dasun Shanak were amongst the runs and played some good knocks with the bat. Minod Bhanuka looked good for his 36 runs in his only match before unluckily dismissed run-out.

Their bowling unit was not able to trouble Pakistan and they gave almost 300 runs in both the matches. Wanidu Hathurasinghe, Lahiru Kumara, and Nuwan Pradeep took a few wickets but were not able to put pressure consistently on the Pakistan team. Their bowling unit took just 9 wickets in the 2 ODI matches combined.

Key Players:

Danushka Gunathilaka – Gunathilaka scored his career best off 134 runs in the last ODI to take his team to a good score of 297 runs. He smashed 16 boundaries and one maximum in the innings.

Dasun Shanaka – Shanaka has scores of 68 & 43 in the two matches he batted. He scored quickfire 43 in the last match to finish the innings on a high. He also bowled some quite overs giving runs at less than 6 RPO but failed to take wickets in the ODIs.

Sri Lanka Predicted Playing XI:

Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka (wk), Angelo Perera, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanidu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Lahiru Kumara, Isuru Udana

Sri Lanka Actual Playing XI:

Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Minod Bhanuka, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dasun Shanaka, Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Lakshan Sandakan, Wanidu Hasaranga, Nuwan Pradeep, Isuru Udana, Kasun Rajitha

Weather Conditions

The weather looks bright and sunny and it should cause noi disturbance to the match as per weather forecasts.

Venue Details

Lahore ground is a batting paradise with batsmen scoring runs at ease. In the last series, teams batting first scored over 175 runs in all the three matches. Any score less than 180 runs will be easily chased here.

Toss: To Bowl

The lowest score defended here is 183 runs and teams will look to chase down the target here.