Pakistan v Sri Lanka, Asia Cup , Preview

Srlanka Elected  To Bat 

Pakistan and Sri Lanka will play Today in the third match of the Asia Cup 2012 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. It’s going to be a very interesting contest between two equally strong teams.

Sri Lanka will be under pressure to win tomorrow’s match having lost to India by 50 runs. The Lankans are having some injury concerns as well and the team looks jaded after their tours to South Africa and Australia. They have lost all-rounder Angelo Mathews who has flown back to Sri Lanka with a calf muscle injury. Another worry for Sri Lanka is the availability of Lasith Malinga who is also having a niggling injury.

The best and worst of Pakistan's unpredictability were on display against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup opener on Sunday. The batting was a rollercoaster ride from a high of 135 for 1, a low of 198 for 7 and a surge to 262 for 8. Pakistan then saw the opposition eyeing a win at 224 for 5, before Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal averted what would have been an embarrassing loss with a burst of 5 for 17. The game was Bangladesh's to lose, and they went ahead and lost it. Sri Lanka will not be so helpful to Pakistan.

Jayawardene, though, said that was not the case in the subcontinent. "Probably in conditions in Australia and England to a certain extent, but even yesterday we saw after about 30 overs, our guys managed to start getting reverse back," he said. "Surfaces are much more dry here and the balls do get older. You still can reverse the ball. I thought that [Suranga] Lakmal, Kula [Nuwan Kulasekara] and even [Farveez] Maharoof, to a certain extent, did reverse the ball.

"In other countries like England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, you don't need reverse swing. With the two new balls and the wicket helping you (fast bowlers), it's quite a handful (for the batsmen)."