Will Sri Lanka upset Pakistan?

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Sri Lanka will be hoping that they will be third time lucky when they take on Pakistan in the Under 19 Tri Series limited overs cricket tournament final to be played at the SSC ground in Maitland Place today.

This tournament is organised by Sri Lanka Cricket in preparation for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Youth World Cup which will be worked off from February 17 to March 2 in Malaysia.

The Lankans lost both their league matches against Pakistan but they will be determined to reverse their fortunes and clinch the title in this crucial encounter. They made it to the final after defeating England twice while Pakistan made a clean sweep winning all four preliminary round matches.

However the Lankans will be quite confident having outplayed England by a massive margin of 158 runs in their previous outing at the same venue.

The forte in the Sri Lankan team is their strong batting line up where they proved it by piling up a huge 312 runs in their previous outing against England. The side is packed with a number of good stroke makers with opener Dinesh Chandimal leading the way.

The wicket keeper batsman seem to have regained his form following his splendid unbeaten century against England. Middle order batsman Kusal Janith Perera is another player who has really impressed with a couple of half centuries to his credit.

Sri Lanka’s batting of course have been severely effected after the last minute pull out of Nisham Mazahir due to an ankle injury. But according to Sri Lanka team sources he seem to be recovering well and his chances of playing in the World Cup looks quite bright.

Pakistan however will be looking to maintain their impressive run of success with another good all round performance in the final. They have never been under pressure in this tournament and have won all their earlier matches without being stretched to the maximum.

The teams:

Pakistan under 19 (from): Imad Wasim (captain), Shan Masood (vice captain), Umair Mir, Ali Asad, Ahmed Shehzad, Umer Amin, Usman Salahuddin, Shahzaib Ahmed, Umer Akmal, Mohammad Rameez, Mohammad Amir, Adil Raza, Junaid Khan, Azhar Attari, Ahsan Mirza, Abdur Raquib.

Sri Lanka Under 19 (from): Ashan Subasinghe (captain), Sachith Pathirana, Thisara Perera, Roshane Silva, Dinesh Chandimal, Dilshan Munaweera, Imesh Udayanga, Navin Kavikara, Denuwan Fernando, Ishan Jayarathne, Angelo Perera, Umesh Karunarathna, Kusal Perera and Lahiru Thirimanna.