Younis Khan won the toss and put Sri Lanka into bat, the wicket has a bit of grass and moisture in it, but it is not a hard bouncy wicket as projected, the wicket is going to help the spinners on the third day and Sri Lanka is playing both Mendis and Murali, Pakistan has made one change they dropped Sohail Khan and are playing Talha instead.
Since the wicket is going to help the spinners later on the decision of Younis Khan to bat first is debatable.
Pakistan will be relying heavily on Umar Gul to give them some early break through; it will be also a test for Danish Kineria as the wicket does have some patches which could help the spinners. If Danish fails to perform in this match then it will be hard for him to find a place in Pakistan team in future.
Sri Lanka has left out Vaas and is playing Tushara in this match. Vaas was completely ineffective in the first match and Tushara will certainly improve their attack.
Umar Gul has already struck twice, he removed both the openers, so far so good for him, Talha has so far been un impressive he needs to bowl closer to the wicket and try to make the batsman play the ball he is using the wide crease and angling the ball too much, I would also like to see some aggression from him he should test the batsman by targeting their body, he has bowled so far at a lively pace and has also moved the ball away from the left handers.
It’s 55/2, Jayawardene and Sangakara are batting, the pitch so far has looked good for batting,Younis Khan will have to stop this partnership from developing into a big one or else his decision to field first will come under fire.
Talha was quite unimpressive in his first spell, his line improved in the second spell and he looked more confident, he needs to attack the off stump and should try to bring the ball back in with the odd ball moving away but so far he hasn’t been able to move even one ball away from the batsman, just firing flat thunderbolts is not going to get him any wickets at this stage, I would also like to see him bending his back a bit and should target the rib cage, he has the pace to cause discomfort to the batsman, Younis or Umar Gul should constantly talk to him, he is just 20 years old and somebody should have guided him in his first spell.
Kineria again disappointed he kept on bowling full and made it very easy for the batsman, I can’t understand why he is bowling faster, Kamran Akmal again dropped a catch off his bowling, but that’s not an excuse he hasn’t been bowling the way he is supposed to he is bowling too many bad balls giving away too many easy boundaries, he is also straying with his length.
Umar Gul bowled well but he could have been more affective if he had bowled his away swingers more often at the start of the innings.
Aaqib Javed has not done a good job at the academy, these bowlers lack in basics, I don’t think that either Talha or Sohail were ready for the test level they are still work in progress. Pakistan desperately needs a bowling coach. The team management should show them a video of the South African bowlers or Australian bowlers. These bowlers do not know how a fast bowler should attack.
Talha should run more close to the wicket his current sideways action from the wide crease will not allow him to seam the ball away from the batsman, The team management should show him the video’s of Ntini he also bowls from the wide of the crease but he consistently attacks the rib cage and keeps on jagging the ball into right handed batsmen, the attack should be relentless and furious, he has the pace but he needs guidance.
The pitch is again quite flat and Younis Khan’s decision to bowl first was quite strange,
I also don’t like Younis Khan’s statements that he doesn’t expect to win the series, I have never seen any captain making such a foolish and meek statement, he should remember why he was made the captain.
Sri Lanka are poised to score around 500, and since Younis is not expecting to win this match, I am nt expecting a good batting performance from Pakistan, there is a message within the lines of his statement.
It’s a shame, I have never seen such a timid bowling attack in a Pakistan team.
Even Rana, Sami and Razzak would have done better on this pitch.