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Karachi: Sri Lankan spin magicians Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis loom as major threats for Pakistan in their three-match one-day series which opens here Tuesday.
The 36-year-old Muralitharan, already the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 769, will have the extra motivation of overhauling the tally of one-day wickets, currently held by Pakistan's Wasim Akram with 502.
Last week Mendis became the quickest bowler to get 50 wickets in one-day cricket, having made his debut only last year. In his only match against Pakistan, Mendis took four wickets. He then took six wickets in the very next match against India to help Sri Lanka win the Asia Cup here in July last year.
Pakistan's first plan is to outwit Sri Lanka with pace as they named six fast bowlers in their squad of 15 with fit-again Shoaib Akhtar leading the pack. Akhtar, 33, missed all matches in Pakistan's 3-0 win against the West Indies at Abu Dhabi in November last year. The home team can also take heart from Sri Lanka's unimpressive batting despite winning the tri-series in Bangladesh last week.
Pakistan hastily arranged the one-day series with Sri Lanka after India pulled out of a planned tour amid hightened political tension in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene expressed concern on Sunday about his ability to still play big innings in One-day cricket ahead of his team's three-match series against Pakistan starting on Tuesday.
Jayawardene has scored four ducks in his last five One-day limited overs innings.
"I have two roles in the team, as a captain and as a batsman and when I am not scoring runs it is a bit worrying. But I have been working on it and I need to apply myself more. I have faced no problems in test matches," he told a news conference.
