Pakistan vs Sri Lanka: Pak favourites against Sri Lanka shorn of stars

Pakistan and Sri Lanka will play in the second ODI of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka ODI tour. The first match was called off without a ball being bowled on September 27. The second ODI was pushed to Monday from Sunday. As the weather in Karachi seems to have cleared up, the match will play out its full length in all probability. Let us take a look at what to expect from the match.

ALSO READ | Pakistan vs Sri Lanka: First ODI called off, second ODI postponed

Squad Analysis

Here lies Pakistan's greatest strength, their settled squad. The Pakistan team is stacked with all their important players who have already settled into the squad. This gives the team the familiarity they need to perform as well as they would want to. The management has decided to back Sarfaraz Ahmed, who is still their skipper, and has chosen Misbah-ul-Haq as the new coach to steer the Pakistan ship.

On the Sri Lankan side of affairs, the squad that is visiting Pakistan is full of inexperience and unfamiliarity. Citing security reasons and in a big embarrassment to Pakistan, ten players from the Sri Lanka squad chose to skip the tour. These included the likes of ODI captain Dimuth Karunaratne, T20 captain Lasith Malinga, Niroshan Dickwella, and Dinesh Chandimal among others. The stand-in skipper, Lahiru Thirimanne, has a fresh young squad to lead which is an exciting prospect but can also be hard to control if Pakistan gets a grasp on the match.

ALSO READ | Pakistan vs Sri Lanka: Hosts lead head-to-head record against SL

What to look forward to?

The weather is reported to be mostly sunny for the day and the condition of the pitch remains to be unknown. As the pitches may have soaked in water because of the torrential rainfall that the stadium received, it will be a safe decision to bowl first and understand how the pitch is behaving. Pakistan should be able to dominate the match because of their immense experience but the Sri Lankans may pull a trick out of their bags and pull off an upset. The action begins at 3:30 PM IST.

ALSO READ | Pakistan vs Sri Lanka: Bilateral series schedule and background