Babar Azam wins the toss and elects to bat against Sri Lanka. (AFP Image)
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said that they will try to put pressure on Sri Lanka by putting big runs on the scoreboard.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bat first against Sri Lanka in the Super 4 clash in Asia Cup 2023. It is a crucial clash between two teams with the winner of the game being guaranteed a place in the final of the tournament against India, who have already qualified to the summit clash on Sunday. Pakistan, who announced their playing on the eve of the clash made a couple of changes at the toss as Imam-ul-Haq sustained a back spasm while Saud Shakeel was down with a fever.
Pakistan captain Babar said that they will try to put pressure on Sri Lanka by putting big runs on the scoreboard.
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“We will bat first. We are trying to put runs on the board and put pressure on them. Second innings, the pitch behaves differently. Imam has a back spasm. Fakhar comes back. Saud Shakeel has fever. Abdullah Shafique is playing,” Babar said at the toss.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka was happy to bowl first on the tricky batting surface.
“We would have bowled first. There’ll be more assistance for spinners. The way we batted, we had our chances but we couldn’t capitalise. We’ve got a couple of changes. Pramodh Madushan comes in for Rajitha and Kusal Janith comes in for Dimuth Karunaratne,” Shanaka said.
After having played 2 games apiece in the Super 4 of the ongoing continental tournament, both teams have managed to win one game while losing the other.
Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka notched up their only win of the Super 4 so far against Bangladesh as the Pakistani unit overpowered the Bangla Tigers with a 7-wicket win and 63 balls to spare, while the Lankan Lions got the better of Bangladesh in a 21-run triumph.
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Sri Lanka and Pakistan were both handed a defeat by India on successive days as the men in blue registered a record 228-run win over arch-rivals Pakistan on Monday, following the actual schedule on Sunday being washed out and pushed to a reserve day due to rain. Rohit Sharma and Co. followed up the thumping win with yet another win as they trumped the Sri Lankan team at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo by 21 runs.
And thus the teams find themselves in a must-win game with the victory taking the spot in the championship game.
Pakistan (Playing XI): Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Mohammad Haris, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Zaman Khan
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis(w), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka(c), Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Pramod Madushan, Matheesha Pathirana