Sri Lanka and Pakistan will begin their five-match ODI series from Thursday and the hosts will look to continue with their winning form. Pakistan, on the other hand, will look to salvage some pride from the games, after having lost the test series rather comfortably to the Lankans.

The warm-up game exposed the chinks in the Pakistani bowling, and barring Shahid Afridi – who bowled his nine overs for 49 – there wasn’t much going for the team vis-á-vis their bowling. Abdul Razzaq, rather surprisingly, opened the bowling and despite his four-wicket haul was mauled for 70 runs in nine overs, while Iftikhar Anjum and Naved-ul-Hasan had 74 taken off their ten.

Worse was to follow with the batting, as the tourists collapsed to 55/4 and then 129/6, before a rearguard action by Umar Akmal saw Pakistan get to 333 all out. Fawad Alam continued with his good form and scored an 86, where as Razzaq banished four boundaries and sixes to hit a 29-ball 56.

What Pakistan may feel slightly happier about would be the fact that Malinga Bandara, who may partner the spin attack with Ajantha Mendis was smashed around as well, and this makes selection a difficult job for the hosts.

Sanath Jayasuriya has retired from test matches, but it will be interesting to see how he goes about his business. He has had a mediocre couple of tournaments, in the IPL and then the ICC World T20, but with the pitches now more familiar to the ones he has loved batting on, he could be a dangerous weapon in the Lankan arsenal. Having said that, a failure in this series could send him a step closer towards the end of his career as well.

Pakistan vs Sri Lanka 1st ODI Live Streaming