Daijiworld Media Network

Dhaka, Mar 3 : A couple of days ago, Bangladesh scrapped and willed their way to a memorable victory against Pakistan to send the raucous home crowd into a frenzy. As Bangladesh's fans savoured the thrills and spills of a high voltage contest, Pakistan's hopes of making it to the final of the Asia Cup was dashed. One of the traditional giants of Asian cricket, Pakistan, have looked bereft of confidence. Now they will take on another struggling side, Sri Lanka, where pride is at stake.

Only Mohammad Amir, with his three-card trick, has brilliantly hoodwinked batsmen. He has created maximum backward rotation on the ball to generate late swing. Rest of them though, have largely failed to stamp their authority. In particular, Waqar Younis and his coaching staff will hope that the batsmen can get some runs under their belt before the World T20. Most of the batsmen have tried to go wham-bam against the new ball, in rather trying conditions. Only Sarfraz Ahmed, Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal have notched up useful scores.

Their opponents, Sri Lanka, are also sailing in a similar boat. Just like Pakistan, their only victory in this Asia Cup has come against the laggards UAE. With Lasith Malinga out of action due to a knee injury, the bowling has lacked the teeth. To make matters worse, Nuwan Kulasekara seems to have lost the ability to generate prodigious inswing. Among the batsmen, only Dinesh Chandimal has cracked a fifty. With this being a dead-rubber, there is a chance that Jeffrey Vandersay might play. For Pakistan, the duo of Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz can get a look in.

Pakistan have won the toss and have opted to field

Chandimal: 'Mathews has some calf strain, so he misses out. We had some chat last night and we want come back strongly. We have made only one change, Angelo is out and Dickwella comes in for him.'

Afridi: 'We will be bowling first. If you compare with the last game, the pitch looks similar. There will be dew later so we are bowling first. At least, this victory is important before going back home. We have made three changes.'

Pitch report: 'The wicket looks very, very good. Just a little batter friendly. There's some rolled-in grass, but the spinners might come into play. I am not sure if you would want to bat first on this wicket,' reckons Matthew Hayden.

Match Preview :

Pakistan and Sri Lanka - the traditional powerhouses in the subcontinent - face crises in the T20 format just ahead of the World T20 as they brace themselves to play out an inconsequential Asia Cup game on Friday (February 4) after failing to qualify for the final. Not many would have fancied this outcome at the start of the tournament.

Both teams are unhappy about their performances so far and understandably so. Neither team has presented a fake front to brush away the results. On the contrary, both Waqar Younis and Angelo Mathews have expressed disappointment but laid the blame on themselves rather than external factors.

There have been a few rough umpiring decisions going against both teams but if there has been one thing said about the officiating, it has been consistent - consistently below-par.

As it stands, both teams will be trying to make the best out of the lone game remaining. Mathews has sought to put an end to the 'team in transition' excuse and has called for all the players to start performing. Lasith Malinga's injury has severely affected the team's fortunes in the format but more than his expertise with the ball, it is the lack of runs from the likes of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mathews himself that is having an adverse effect on the team.

With the pressure subsiding considerably, it could act as a release-point for some of them. Sri Lanka need their batting order to tick more than anything else. They will take some heart from the fact that the conditions have been bowling-friendly but it will be far from easy to turn their confidence around. This presents a last opportunity to provide a boost but it won't come easy against an in-form Pakistan bowling attack.

Mohammad Amir has been, arguably, the best pace bowler in the tournament. The impact that he's had has been for all to witness.
With ample support from Mohammad Irfan, Pakistan's bowling looks quite formidable. But having failed to defend against Bangladesh, they too will be feeling the pinch.

The more worrying concerns for Waqar Younis was the repeated batting failures, particularly from the top-order. Waqar felt that the likes of Khurram Manzoor and Sharjeel Khan are still making their way back into the team and might have gone into a shell.

The middle-order has fared considerably better in comparison. Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed and Umar Akmal have contributed on and off but Pakistan's batting has failed to click as a collective unit.

Waqar has made it clear that Pakistan will be making some changes for the final game and Khalid Latif could get a look-in in place of Khurram Manzoor, who has endured a horrific run of form with the bat.

Sri Lanka are unlikely to make changes to their combination. Mathews admitted that the batting line-up used for the previous game was the one they were looking to use right through the tournament. Dinesh Chandimal's role at the top of the order would be to take some time and set up the innings. He did well in two games but the batting came apart after that. Sri Lanka's problems lie much less with the planning as much as it does in execution. That is something that can be corrected only on the field.

The conditions are unlikely to change drastically at the Shere Bangla stadium. Having played three games each, the teams will be quite familiar with what will be on offer. It is one last chance for both teams to gain some confidence and neither will want to let that slip.