Stani Army

Sri Lanka levelled the 3 ODI series against Pakistan with a convincing victory leaving Pakistan with a number of things to think about. In reply to Sri Lanka’s score of 290, Pakistan lost early wickets but Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik steadied the ship and Pakistan recovered to 125-3 when Malik lost his wicket. This then triggered a dramatic batting collapse with the home side ending up on 161 all out. After not such a good game yesterday, most of the damage was done by the two M’s, Murali and Mendis with 3 wickets each. Nuwan Kulasekara also bowled well with his two early dismissals.

Chief among Pakistan’s concerns and the major talking point was the performance of the Rawalpindi Express who seems to be grinding to a halt. Having bowled 7 expensive and wicketless overs he only managed 6 today taking one wicket and giving away 7.5 runs per over. Apart from not bowling his full quota of overs in both games, he also seemed lackadaisical and unenthusiastic in the field.

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What’s this? Pakistan spotted playing cricket at home? Surely not! Today marked the return of international cricket to Pakistan with the visit of Sri Lanka. Pakistan ran out winners in the first of three ODIs which will be followed by two Tests in February when Sri Lanka return after a ODI series with India.

What was particularly pleasing was the manner of the victory after being starved of cricket at home for over six months. Talk in lead up to the game was about the undeniable threat of Ajanta Mendis who ended up wicketless even though he had taken a total of 7 weeks in his previous 14 overs against Pakistan. It was clear that the strategy employed by the Pakistan batsmen against Mendis had worked and it will be interesting to see how this battle develops throughout the series. Sri Lankas smiling assassin Muttiah Muralitharan – who’s not bad either, was also kept relatively quiet taking one wicket. He now needs just 8 more to pass Wasim Akram’s record ODI wickets tally. How fitting would it be for him to do it on Pakistan soil.

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