Pakistan cricket team, under the leadership of its most successful Test captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, aims to end its 10-year series win drought in Sri Lanka during the three-match series that begins a few days from now.
Pakistan have not won a series there since 2004-05.
Fit and striking fast bowlers are the main concern for Misbah. Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Ehsan Adil and Imran Khan are the members of the pace battery. Only Wahab and Junaid are experienced, but their inconsistency is a cause of concern for the skipper.
Misbah will miss the services of ace spinner Saeed Ajmal, who was dropped from the Test squad due to unimpressive performance in Bangladesh series with his remodeled action. He played two ODIs and one T20I on the tour, but managed just one wicket.
Spinners Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar have only 15 Tests’ experience jointly.
Head coach Waqar Younis has accepted that the ouster of Saeed Ajmal is the biggest setback as he was a match-winner for many years.
As far as batting is concerned, in the presence of veteran Misbah, Younis, Azhar, Hafeez, Asad and Haris Sohail it looks balanced.
It will be the 18th bilateral series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Both teams played twice in the Asian Test Championship.
The first-ever Test between the two countries was played in March 1982 in Karachi. It was won by Pakistan by a huge margin of 204 runs.
It was a memorable Test for Pakistan, as some senior players had refused to accept the board’s decision following the appointment of Javed Miandad as the captain, but the then PCB Chief Air Marshal (retd) Nur Khan stood firm and inducted youngsters Saleem Malik, Saleem Yousuf, Rashid Khan, and Tahir Naqqash. Saleem Malik scored a century in his debut Test.
The second Test at Faisalabad ended in a draw. The third Test at Lahore was also won by Pakistan with a convincing margin of an innings and 102 runs.
Since 1981-82, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have played 16 Test series. Pakistan won seven, Sri Lanka were successful on five occasions and four series ended without a result.
For Pakistan, the last Test series win came in 2005-06 when Inzamam-ul-Haq led Pakistan to a 1-0 win.
So far 48 Test matches have been played between the two countries. Pakistan have the upper hand with 17 wins. Sri Lanka remained successful on 13 occasions. There have been 18 drawn Tests. The two teams also met in the Asian Test Championship twice and won once each.
Pakistan’s biggest win against Sri Lanka came in the Asian Test Championship final at Dhaka in March 1999 when Pakistan beat them by an innings and 175 runs and become the first Asian Test Champions.
Sri Lanka’s 201 runs win at Faisalabad in October 2004 is the most convincing win in Test matches over Pakistan so far.
Pakistan’s 765-6 in Karachi in 2009 is the highest innings total in the bilateral Test cricket. Sri Lanka’s best total against Pakistan of 644-7 came in the same Test.
Sri Lanka were bowled out for just 71 in August 1994 at Kandy. This was the lowest total in Test cricket between the two countries. Pakistan’s lowest total is 90 which they got in 2009 at Colombo.
Veteran Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara is the most successful batsman in bilateral cricket with 2809 runs in 21 matches, including 10 centuries and 11 fifties at a high average of 80.25.
Pakistan’s former captain Younis Khan scored 2019 runs in 26 appearances in the bilateral Test cricket, averaging 50.47 with the help of seven hundreds and six half-centuries.
Younis Khan’s 313 at Karachi in February 2009 is the highest individual score in the two countries’ Test cricket. Sanath Jayasuriya’s 253 runs at Faisalabad in 2004 is the highest score for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has been the most successful bowler with 88 wickets in 17 Tests at an average of 28.19.
For Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal has been the most successful bowler with 66 scalps in 14 matches.