Sri Lanka go out with confidence today (19 March 1999)

19 March 1999

Sri Lanka go out with confidence today

Bandula Molligoda

JAMSHEDPUR, INDIA, THURSDAY - A rejuvenated Sri Lanka team will go out with confidence when they take on Pakistan in the curtain-raiser of the Triangular one-day series here today.

The Sri Lankans have been strengthened by the return of skipper Arjuna Ranatunga who said that the Lankans will give of their best as this is the last tournament before the World Cup. "We have been training hard during the last two days and are confident of toppling the high-riding Pakistanis in the first match" said Ranatunga.

The Sri Lankan team arrived in Jamshedpur two days ago and since then they have been training hard in their endeavour to beat the Pakistanis and register a morale-boosting victory.

20 year old wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardena will be making his debut for Sri Lanka replacing the injured Romesh Kaluwitharana. Left handers Russal Arnold and Aviskha Gunawardena will open batting for Sri Lanka followed by Marvan Atapattu, Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardena, Arjuna Ranatunga, Hashan Tillekeratne and Upul Chandana.

The Sri lankans will rely on their three pronged pace attack of Chaminda Vaas, Pramodaya Wickramasinghe and Eric Upashantha to contain the run hungry Pakistanis. The spin department will be handled by Upul Chandana and Aravinda de Silva.

Left hander Saeed Anwar (who holds the record for the highest individual score in one-day internationals) will open batting for Pakistan with the hard hitting Shahid Afridi. Ijaz Ahamed and Inzamam ul Haq (both of whom scored double centuries against Sri Lanka in the Asian Test final), Yousuf Yohanna, Azhar Mahmud, Moin Khan and skipper Wasim Akram will be relied upon to build up a mammoth total for Pakistan.

It is left to be seen how the Sri Lankan batsmen will cope with the deadly pace attack of Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Azhar Mahmud. The spin attack will be in the capable hands of Saqlain Mushtaq and Arshad Khan.

Sri Lanka (from) - Arjuna Ranatunga (captain), Russel Arnold, Avishka Gunawardena, Marvan Atapattu, Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardena, Hashan Tillekeratne, Prasanna Jayawardena, Upul Chandana, Chaminda Vaas, Pramodaya Wickremasinghe, Eric Upashantha.

Pakistan (from) - Wasim Akram (captain), Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Ijaz Ahmed, Inzamam Ul Haq, Yosuf Youhanna, Azhar Mahmud, Moin Khan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Arshad Khan, Wajahat Wasti.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)