Sri Lanka tour, a great chance for Pakistan to get ready for T20 World Cup

Green Shirts are all set to take on Sri Lanka in two-match Twenty20 competition. This series will be followed by five One Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Test matches.

Although success in all three formats will be very important for both sides, emphasis will be on two T20 matches. Sri Lanka will host T20 World Cup later this year and it will be Pakistan’s last chance to play competitive cricket in Sri Lanka.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has recently appointed a new T20 skipper, Mohammad Hafeez, who will be leading the side for the first time. It is a great opportunity for Hafeez to prepare a side for the upcoming big event.

Since both sides are going to meet at the same venues where the World Cup matches will be played, the Corners Tigers have a good chance to adapt to the conditions.

Above all, Hafeez has plenty to do. There are many giants in the side such as, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik and Hafeez must ensure that he builds a good working relation with every individual before the mega events starts.

Talking at a media conference ahead of the first T20 matches, Hafeez said, “We all know that Sri Lanka is always good on their own soil and we are looking forward to a very tough series.”

He added, “We have experience playing them in the recent past and had good success against them. I personally feel the boys have worked really hard in the last one and a half months. Although we were not playing any international cricket (recently) some of the guys were doing their own training and the PCB arranged some matches for us to get match practice.”

On the other hand, newly-appointed head coach Dav Whatmore is happy with his team’s preparations for the series. The former Australian also shared that despite not getting an opportunity to play international cricket at home, the guys are well prepared for the battle.

“Although Pakistan is unable to play any international matches at home due to the security concerns in their country, they managed to practice together before coming to Sri Lanka,” he added.

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Jun 2 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.