T20 Preview: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka

The fact that Pakistan has never won a T20 in Abu Dhabi would be encouraging for the visiting Sri Lankan side whose returns have gradually worsened in this tour. Having lost both the Test and the ODI series, the Sri Lankans would be hoping to sign off with a win in this one off T20 international match.

Sri Lanka’s poor batting has been a major cause for their downfall throughout the Test and the ODI series; barring Sangakarra and Jayawardene none of the other batsmen have shown any promise whatsoever to take the attack to the Pakistani bowlers. The form of their captain Dilshan has especially been lacklustre in the ODI series and for Sri Lanka to win this particular T20, their batsmen need to respond strongly with Dilshan leading them from the front.

The loss of Mahela Jayawardene in this T20 to an injured knee will surely compound Sri Lanka’s batting woes even further. Pakistan on the other hand have moved from strength to strength in the recently concluded ODI series and will look to carry forward their momentum in this T20 match. The return of Shahid Afridi has given the team a much needed balance and with his current batting form, the team can afford to pack in one extra bowler into their attack.

The form of Umar Akmal has also been very impressive in the ODI series and he will especially enjoy this slam bang format more than the rest of his troupe. The rise of Saeed Ajmal to the top of the ICC One day bowling rankings shows his credentials as one of the best off spinners in the limited overs version presently and he will have a huge role to play against the Sri Lankan batters in this T20 match.

In focus:

Dinesh Chandimal- After getting the nod for 5 straight games, Chandimal has failed to prove his worth and gave meagre returns of 28, 15, 31, 11, 7 in his five innings at an average of 18.4. Maybe he needs the ‘hit-first-think-later mantra’ of T20 matches and with a few good swipes in the start, he may just go on to score big in this T20 match.

Chandimal's time has come to deliver

Shoaib Malik- After his comeback to the international arena, Shoaib Malik’s scores with the willow ( 2, 0) have been excessively poor and if he gets a chance and goes on to score big, this match may just give him enough time to stay on the Pakistan team for a longer period of time. However that said he may be a very valuable spin option on a slow and dusty Abu Dhabi track.

Malik has to repay the selector's faith

Form Guide (Last three matches):

Sri Lanka: W W W

Pakistan: W W L

Pitch & Conditions: The Abu Dhabi pitch will be a typical slow one and runs will be hard to come by. Spinners will have a field day with the amount of slowness on offer in the track . A total of 150-160 batting first will most certainly be a match winning one.

Stats & Trivia:

The highest T20 score to have been recorded here is 133/3 by Netherlands against Kenya. In terms of an elite team performance the record is held by South Africa who scored 125/4 off 18.4 overs when they successfully chased down the 120 runs scored by Pakistan in the first innings.

Pakistan has so far played only two T20 matches here and have lost in both of them against South Africa.

Of all the Pakistani bowlers Mohammed Hafeez has the best economy rate at Abu Dhabi with an economy rate of 4.14 in the 7 overs that he has bowled here.

For all the bowlers who have taken more than 25 T20 wickets Ajantha Mendis heads the average chart with 10.89 runs a wicket.

Umar Gul needs three wickets to touch the 50 wicket mark in T20′s, the only player ahead on the wicket column above him is Shahid Afridi who has 53 wickets in 43 T20 matches.

Match Facts

Date: 25th November, 2011

Venue: Abu Dhabi

Time: 21:30 IST