Without any stars, Sri Lanka-Pakistan series still to make history

The best likely outcome of Friday’s One-day International featuring Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the National Stadium would be a mismatch. And that too if the wet weather, that is threatening to affect the game, doesn’t play spoilsport.

The Sri Lankans have arrived in Pakistan without almost all of their leading players including the likes of Kusal Perera, Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne. Lahiru Thirimanne, who is leading the visiting team, isn’t really a first-choice player for Sri Lanka. Against a full-strength Pakistan team, the tourists are likely to be mere pushovers.

But even such a gloomy scenario won’t affect the importance of today’s day-nighter. That’s because it will be Karachi’s first ODI in almost a decade.

Today’s game will also be the start of what will be the longest trip by an international team to Pakistan since 2009.

“History will be made on Friday,” commented Sarfaraz Ahmad, who will be leading Pakistan in the series after surviving a post World Cup shake-up that resulted in the ouster of a number of players and officials including head coach Mickey Arthur.

The series will be the first test for new head coach Misbah-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, who is hoping that his team enjoy a walk in the park against a depleted Sri Lankan team in the three-match ODI series which concludes on October 2.

Despite the fact that Sri Lanka have sent their second string for the series, the Pakistanis have opted to include almost all of their top players in the squad. They are likely to open with Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman with Asif Ali expected to return to the playing eleven after a poor World Cup. Pacer Usman Shinwari is also likely to play.

It has been raining in Karachi in recent days, which means that the game could be affected by a wet outfield. The wicket could assist seamers but should still be a batting friendly strip.

The remaining ODIs will be played on Sunday and Wednesday at the National Stadium.

After the ODI series, the two sides will travel to Lahore to play three Twenty20 Internationals on October 5, 7 and 9.

Teams (likely):

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Sarfraz Ahmed (captain & wk), Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Usman Shinwari

Sri Lanka: Lahiru Thirimanne (captain), Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), Oshada Fernando, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dasun Shanaka, Isuru Udana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep.