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Wednesday, December 25, 2024  
22 Jumada Al-Akhirah 1446  

Pak-Srilanka to play 2nd ODI today

A buoyant Pakistan side will look to win the second ODI here on Monday and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match ODI series against Sri Lanka.

Pakistan thrashed Srilanka in the first match on Friday by eight wickets. Pakistan bowled Sri Lanka out for a paltry 131 in 40.3 overs on the back of 3-27 by returning all-rounder Shahid Afridi, ably supported by off-spinners Mohammad Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal who took two wickets apiece. They then chased down the target for the loss of only two wickets.

Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan said his team will continue to keep things simple.

"We kept things simple in the Tests as well," said Younis of the preceding three-Test series which Pakistan won 1-0. "Now in the one-dayers, we are doing the basics in a simple manner and although there is no assurance of winning, we want consistency in our performance."

While Pakistan haven't indicated any changes in their playing eleven, the Sri Lankan team is expected to make a forced change due to Mahela Jayawardene's knee injury.

The visiting captain Tillakaratne Dilshan has also been critical of the batting collapse in the first one-dayer, and his own one-day form doesn't inject any self-belief into the team.

Pakistan team:

Misbah-ul-Haq*, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Aizaz Cheema, Asad Shafiq, Imran Farhat, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Younis Khan

Srilankan team;

TM Dilshan*, AD Mathews, LD Chandimal†, CRD Fernando, DPMD Jayawardene, S Randiv, FDM Karunaratne, CKB Kulasekara, RAS Lakmal, SL Malinga, BMAJ Mendis, NLTC Perera, S Prasanna, KC Sangakkara†, WU Tharanga