Sangakkara’s men ready to challenge the world Twenty20 champs

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Sri Lanka will be looking to avenge their World Cup final defeat when they take on the touring Pakistan team in the only Twenty20 International under lights at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo today.

Kumar Sangakkara’s men have already clinched the Test and the One day series 2 nil and 3-2 respectively and will be keen to add the finishing touches in his first major assignment on home soil as captain of the Sri Lanka team.

The Lankans of course have a score to settle with their rivals after their shock eight wicket defeat in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup final at Lords in June.

Pakistan too will take the field confidently having notched up back to back victories in the one day series at the same venue.

Sri Lanka will be quite aware of this fact as they really struggled while batting under lights managing scores of 175 and 147 respectively.

Skipper Sangakkara said that it is important for them to build up partnerships which something they failed to perform in the last two one dayers.

Sri Lanka of course will be minus their key player Tillekeratne Dilshan who is still recovering following an injury which he sustained during the concluded Test series.

The dashing opener certainly revolutionized the art of batting in this shortest version of the game by winning the Player of the Series award at the recent ICC Twenty20 World Cup tournament in England.

Dilshan will probably be replaced by left hander Mahela Udawatte who earned a recall following a series of good scores in the domestic scene. The 23 year old opening batsman took a century while representing Sri Lanka A team against Pakistan in their one day warm up match at the Welegedera Stadium in Kurunegala and also made a fine 47 for the Development XI in their three day practice match against the visiting New Zealand team.

Udawatte made his Twenty20 International debut during the Canada Cup tournament last year and has so far represented the country in three matches against Pakistan (2) and Zimbabwe (1).

But Sri Lanka will be looking for a good performance from their big guns opener Sanath Jayasuriya former captain Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara.

In fact Jayawardena was the only Sri Lankan batsman to have scored over two hundred runs in the one day series which also included a match winning knock of 123 in the third game at Dambulla.

Pakistan of course will be captained by all rounder Shahid Afridi who has taken over the reigns from Younis Khan who retired from this format of cricket after guiding Pakistan to the World Twenty20 title in June.

Afridi was instrumental in that historic triumph where he came out with Man-of-the-Match performances in both semi final and the final respectively.

This will be the first time that Afridi will lead the national team in any format of the game getting his chance nearly 13 years after making his Pakistan debut. Pakistan have so far come on top having won three out of their previous five Twenty20 Internationals since 2007.