The cycle of the ICC World Test Championship is going on and it has landed in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has just finished the series against Australia and they levelled the test at 1-1. This is a really critical time in Sri Lanka but Australia showed great courage to come here and played some good cricket. The home side is having some issues around the country but after all these crises they have put on a great show against the top team in the world. Now it's time for another thrilling test series between 2 exciting teams Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka.
Pakistan cricket team has landed in Sri Lanka for the 2-match test series and here is the schedule of this test series.
Schedule and the timetable of Pak Vs Sl 2022
| Sat Jul 16 - Wed Jul 20 10:00 local | 00:00 GMT | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 1st Test Galle International Stadium, Galle Pakistan won the 1st test by 4 wickets and registered the highest chase at Galle of 342. Abdullah Shafique was the player in the match. |
| Sun Jul 24 - Thu Jul 28 10:00 local | 00:00 GMT | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 2nd Test Galle International Stadium |
Sri Lanka won the 2nd test and levelled the series1-1. They won it by 246 runs. Dhananjaya De Silva was the man of the match and left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya named as player of the series.
Sri Lanka is playing some serious cricket in the recent past. Against Australia, they lost the T20 series and won the ODI series and in the test series, there was a tie of 1-1.
On the other side, Pakistan is also in good form their last series was also against Australia. Pakistan won the ODI series against Australia but lost the test series and only T20 also. This will be a huge test for Pakistan in these conditions where the ball will spin sharply. In recent times Pakistan hasn't played much cricket on turning tracks and it will be a test for Pakistan.
Players to watch out for Pakistan
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| Babar Azam |
The no.1 T20 batter, no.1 ODI batter and no.4 in test cricket have been the backbone of Pakistan's batting lineup. He has been magnificent in the last couple of years and probably the best batter in the world right now. He scored a match-saving 196 in a match against Australia. So he will be the key batter in those tough conditions and will be eager to perform to climb further in ICC Rankings.
No.4 best bowler in ICC Test Rankings Shaheen Shah Afridi is the spearhead of Pakistan's bowling lineup. He has played 24 test matches so far and got 95 wickets with an average of just 25.08 and a strike rate of 49.8. Yes, conditions will be really tough for the fast bowlers but he can bowl in any conditions, especially with the new ball he is mighty dangerous and highly effective in all forms of the game. Michell Starc has also done reasonably well for his team in the recent series and he is quite similar to him so we can expect that he will be the key man for Pakistan in this series.
Azhar Ali
Pakistan batting ace and experienced person Azhar Ali is one of those players which played the last series in Sri Lanka in 2015. He scored a 100 also in 3 match test series but he is not at his best. But in this series, Pakistan will be looking at him because he has played so much test cricket and is vastly experienced. He needs to stand up this time not only for his team but also for himself because this can be do or die situation for him.
Players to watch out for Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has played some serious cricket in the recent past. They won test series in Bangladesh and now levelled the series against Australia on their home soil. They lost the 1st test comprehensively and got all out in less than 25 overs in the 2nd innings but they came back really well in the 2nd test.
They lost the toss and conceived over 300 runs but they showed great fight. Chandimal scored double a hundred and put his team in a commanding position. Then their spinners joined the party and got 9 wickets of Australia in a single session to register the win by an innings. So that was some comeback for the home side against might Australians.
Dimuth Karunaratne
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| Dimuth Karunaratne |
A 34-year-old batter and the skipper of the Sri Lankan side is a key man for his country in test cricket. He is also one of those players which were part of the series of 2015. He is currently no.7 in ICC Rankings and doing a fine job. He has scored 5905 runs in 154 innings with an average of 39.9. He has 14 hundred under his belt and 30 fifties which are good enough to prove his worth. So he is at the top of the order for his team and he can make a massive difference between both sides.
Dinesh Chandimal
32 years old Dinesh Chandimal is an experienced batter of Sri Lanka having 13 hundred and 21 50s in 123 innings. He has scored 4665 runs with an average of 42. He has played a match-winning knock against Australia under utmost pressure. He registered his 1st double hundred and was a man of the match for his scintillating performance. This inning will give him a huge boost and can be the key man for his team in the middle order.
Ramesh Mendis
After Dilruwan Perera and Ragana Herath Sri Lanka tried a few spinners in the longest format and they found this guy named Ramesh Mendis. He has played just a few matches but left a great impact with 34 wickets in 15 innings with an average of 30 and has 2 5fer also in his short career. With some left-handers in the Pakistani batting lineup, his role will be critical and he can make a difference.
Results of the last 3 series
Pakistan in Sri Lanka in 2015
Pakistan won the series by 2-1 in 3 match series along with a historic chase of 378 in the last test at Galle. Younus Khan and Shan Masood scored 100s while captain Misbah ul Haq 76 and Pakistan chased down the total with 7 wickets to spare.
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka in UAE in 2017/18
In this test series, Sri Lanka surprised Pakistan with a 2-0 win in 2 matches series. In the 1st test, Pakistan couldn't chase 135 and was all out on just 114. Rangana Herath got 6 wickets in the 2nd inning and 11 wickets in the match. 2nd the test Sri Lanka won by 68 runs and clean swept Pakistan by 2-0.
Sri Lanka in Pakistan in 2020
That was also 2 match test series where Pakistan won by 1-0. 1st test in Rawalpindi was drawn and in the 2nd test Pakistan won by 263 runs.
Squads of the teams
Pakistan Test squad:
Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain, wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood and Yasir Shah
Sri Lanka Squad For Test Series vs Pakistan:
Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Pathum Nissanka, Oshada Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella ( WK), Dinesh Chandimal ( WK), Ramesh Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka, Praveen Jayawickrama, Lasith Embuldeniya, Jeffrey Vandersay. Standby Players: Dunith Wellalage, Lakshitha Rasanjana
So that's it from our side you can visit us at www.cric-talk.com for more details.