Sri Lanka begin a tour of Pakistan on Thursday when the two sides do battle for the first of two Test matches in Abu Dhabi. With this being a series as truncated as it is the first match should be fiercely competitive as they both know whoever wins will be guaranteed at least a share of it.
Pakistan
This will represent a new era in Pakistan cricket and I would imagine because of that this will be viewed as an important match for them. They have the chance to lay down how they are going to play for the next period of their existence so I am expecting to see a side right at it from the very first ball here.
There is no doubt that Pakistan have some talented young players and with the experienced ones beginning to be marginalised it looks to be a good mix. Whoever Pakistan choose with the ball they always seem to have a decent bowling attack and if they can find a batting line up which relaxes and produces regularly they are a top side in the making.
Sri Lanka
While Pakistan might be on the upgrade, Sri Lanka are very much a side who are in transition at the minute. They have reached the spell where all of their experienced players are leaving and they are trying to find who the best of young brigade are and who they can move forward with. That will take time and ultimately patience too.
Sri Lanka were well beaten by India so the one thing they probably need to learn how to walk again before they can run so just being competitive will give them something to build on. I would expect their batting unit to function well enough here but the key will be whether they have enough in their bowling attack to be competitive.
Team News
Sami Aslam and Haris Sohail are expected to come into the batting line up with Mohammad Abbas likely to be the extra seamer to Mohammad Amir and Hasan Ali.
Assuming that Sri Lanka go in with two spinners then Lakshan Sandakan is likely to get the nod to play alongside Rangana Herath. All eyes will be on who is selected in the opening berth with Kaushal Silva hoping to get the nod.
Sheikh Zayed Stadium
This will be the tenth Test match to be staged here. Pakistan are unbeaten on this ground with five wins and four draws. Two of those draws have come against Sri Lanka who have played just those two games here.
As with all grounds in this part of the world you have to get your runs in the first innings because the wicket will start to turn a lot as the match goes on. This one perhaps doesn’t break up as much as the others in the UAE.
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Betting
This was never going to be a series which I was going to get too involved with given the transitional time of the pair and I am just going to take one bet in this opening match which comes in the form of a player performance.
Asad Shafiq is a very good batsman these days and he enjoys batting on this ground with five 50s and a ton in just 11 innings. He has a performance line of just 82.5 which looks a little low assuming that he gets a couple of knocks but even if he only bats once I think he can cover that. He’ll add to it with catches too so I’m happy to get on the over there for a man who is quite underrated.
Tips
WON – Back A.Shafiq’s Performance – Over 82.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back him here:
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