This is a historic occasion for us and we are aiming to make it memorable: Sarfaraz

Pakistan will look to continue its winning streak against Sri Lanka in one day internationals when the two South Asian rivals will meet in Karachi for first ODI on Friday.

Pakistan has won eight out of its last 10 ODIs against Sri Lanka, including last six consecutively. However, both the sides haven’t met in 50-over cricket since 2017.

Their scheduled game in World Cup 2019 at Birstol was washed out without a ball being bowled. Friday’s ODI’s will be the first between the two sides in around two years.

Ahead of the three-match ODI series, players from Pakistan and Sri Lanka had their training sessions at Karachi’s national stadium.

Pakistan’s practice was briefly halted by rain, however it was resumed after a break of around an hour as Sarfaraz led Pakistan players looked geared up for the series.

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“It is an historic occasion for us and we are aiming to make it memorable with our performance,” said Sarfaraz ahead of the series against Sri Lanka.

“We are going with full strength and not taking the opponents lightly despite of the fact that they’re not here with their full strength,” said Pakistan captain while highlighting the fact that no team can be taken lightly in limited over cricket.

Sri Lankan captain Lahiru Thirimanne was as confident as his Pakistani counterpart was.

Thirimanne said that his young side has a great opportunity in next three games against a tougher side in Karachi.

“Lot of players under-25 years of age maybe 10-12 years they have played cricket so it's a good opportunity for them and also lot of guys I think all of the players have represented Sri Lanka before so maybe that's a good thing for us and let's see,” said Thirimanne after unveiling the glittering trophy of three match ODI series with his Pakistani counterpart.

The first ODI is also likely to be affected by rain and Pakistan’s captain Sarfaraz believes that condition makes toss important on Friday.

“Weather is beyond our control and we can’t do much about it. We will see in morning how it goes, we haven’t got the chance to see the wicket as yet but we have our XI for the match prepared in our mind,” he said.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has made arrangements finalized for the game and high-level security plan has been put in place for the series.

An official of PCB has also announced that the board is giving tickets to a number of students from different educational institutions for the first ODI as part of their CSR activity.