**Official** Pakistan in Sri Lanka

[Armadillo]

Only half a month away, here's the schedule,

1st ODI - Colombo (RPS)
17 March
2nd ODI - Colombo (RPS)
19 March
3rd ODI - Colombo (SSC)
21 March
1st Test - Colombo (SSC)
24 - 28 March
2nd Test - Kandy
1 - 5 April

Not the most glamourous series going on, but anyway, predictions?

 

[TT Boy]

Pakistan to win the test series 1-0, and to lose the ODI 2-1.

 

[Beleg]

Predictions: Test 1-0 Pakistan, ODI's 2-1 Pakistan

 

[aussie]

Predictions: Test 1-0 Pakistan, ODI's 2-1 Pakistan

agreed

 

[Right arm fast]

draw in the test series 1-1 methinks and odi 3-0 pakistan

 

[Jono]

This should be 3 tests. Get rid of this 2 test rubbish between major test nations.

 

[Pratters]

This should be 3 tests. Get rid of this 2 test rubbish between major test nations.

Jason would argue that SL isn't a majot test nation.

 

[IndianByHeart]

Murali will rip apart Pak team, i think Pak will lose Test series 2-0 while ODI can go either way.

 

[Jono]

If Murali can't rip apart Bangladesh I don't see why its a guarantee he'll rip apart Pakistan. Even if this series is in SL as opposted to Murali playing in Bangladesh currently.

 

[Fusion]

This should be 3 tests. Get rid of this 2 test rubbish between major test nations.

Amen!

 

[sledger]

should be a reasonably even series i think, could potentially go either way, pakistan will be high on confidence at the moment and certainly have the ability to beat sri lanka, but also the tremendous capacity to self destruct, depends if they turn up on good form really, same can be said of sri lanka, and they need to be careful not to rely on vaas and murali too much.

 

[Xuhaib]

1-1 tests.

Odi's could go either way.

 

[Sanz]

Pakistan will struggle against Murali and Vaas. Sangakkara and Attapattu will rip Pakistani attack apart and I can easily see Sri Lanka winning both Test and ODIs easily.

 

[danish]

This series just seems like a filler to occupy the time between the Pakistan v India series and the England v Pakistan series. Anyway, Pakistan should come out on top providing that their spirits haven't been dampened after the India series. I don't remember the last time Pakistan clean sweeped an ODI series though.

 

[TT Boy]

Pakistan will struggle against Murali and Vaas. Sangakkara and Attapattu will rip Pakistani attack apart and I can easily see Sri Lanka winning both Test and ODIs easily.

You gotta love some of the Indian supporters on this forum, I know there is a certain amount of animosity between the two nations but can’t you ever speak rationally when discussing Pakistan, instead of venting the same dim-witted rhetoric all the time.

Case points- Marvin Atapattu will tear apart the Pakistani bowling attack because he is such a destructive batsman, give me a break, he might score some runs but he doesn’t rip bowling attacks apart (also his average against Pakistan is 31, rip roaring stuff).

Pakistan will struggle against Vaas, who averages 58 with the ball against Pakistan in Sri Lanka, whilst Murali averages 29.

 

[Sanz]

You gotta love some of the Indian supporters on this forum, I know there is a certain amount of animosity between the two nations but can’t you ever speak rationally when discussing Pakistan, instead of venting the same dim-witted rhetoric all the time.

Next time you make stupid comments like that, please make sure you read my posts and views on and about Pakistan. Look @ my signature, It's a quote from a Pakistani sufi poet and for past 2 months I have been listening only Pakistani Musiq. What a Pakistan hater I am.

Case points- Marvin Atapattu will tear apart the Pakistani bowling attack because he is such a destructive batsman, give me a break, he might score some runs but he doesn’t rip bowling attacks apart (also his average against Pakistan is 31, rip roaring stuff).

Since you quoted Murali's home avg. against Pakistan, Did you know Mravan's avg. in SriLanka against Pakistan ?? It is 53 and that was against the likes of Akram, Younis, Mushtaq..None of them play now and Pakistan's best Bowler Akhtar is injured. Pakistan's attack in SL is most probably going to be Md. Asif, Naved, Sami, Kaneria, Afridi and Razzaq. Attapattu is good enough to handle this kind of attack @ home and IMO he will.

Pakistan will struggle against Vaas, who averages 58 with the ball against Pakistan in Sri Lanka, whilst Murali averages 29.

Yes and the current Pakistani team is same as that of 90s and early 2000s that toured Sri Lanka, isn't it ? Murali averages 29 because his figures includes pre-1996 test matches when he was ordinary.Murali's bowling against Pakistan @ home is :- 165, 27, 16, 20, 26, 16. IMO those figures tell the story about Murali's impressive performance against Pak (except his first series he played 12 years ago when he was crap) and I have no reason to believe otherwise. You may have a point about Vaas but I rate Vaas very highly and IMO the current Pakistani batsmen will struggle against him.

 

[IndianByHeart]

The current Pakistani batting lineup is certainly stronger than the 90's & early 2000 one, as atleast they have a good settled one down batsman in Younis.

Basic problem with Pak batting is their openers though, who happen to be very weak.Vaas may trouble the Pak batsmen , but its Murali who will run through the Pak batting lineup.

Also Pak bowling is very weak, without Akhtar their bowling looks ordinary. Asif is promissing but that all they have, as Gul is injured and Shabbir is chucked out and the least said about Sami and Rana, the better.


OD series can go either way, unless Pak plays terrible cricket i don't see how they can lose the OD series easily.

 

[Sanz]

The current Pakistani batting lineup is certainly stronger than the 90's & early 2000 one, as atleast they have a good settled one down batsman in Younis.

So which one of the current batsman is better than Saeed Anwar, Javed Miandad, Salim Malik, Ijaz Ahmad, Rameez, Amir Sohail etc ? Obviously Inzi and Md. yusuf were there in those teams as well.

 

[IndianByHeart]

So which one of the current batsman is better than Saeed Anwar, Javed Miandad, Salim Malik, Ijaz Ahmad, Rameez, Amir Sohail etc ? Obviously Inzi and Md. yusuf were there in those teams as well.

Didn't knew that Pak used to play with 8 batsmen back then!!

In mid to late 90's Miandad and Malik were in decline.Pak batting was good when those two were in their peak but once they were in decline Pak batting was very fragile.Also Ijaz Ahmad wasn't that a great batsman and i rate Younis Khan better than Ijaz.It is being said that after Zaheer Abbas Pakistan has now found a proper batsmen for all important one down slot in Younis khan.

The opening pair in past though remained better than the current pair.

 

[lionheart]

- the test series will end in a draw.
- sl will win the odi