(This entry was originally uploaded on May 2009.)
Pakistan will visit Sri Lanka in a full-fledged series in July-August this year. There will be three tests, five ODIs and one twenty20 international in the series. Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka kicks off with a three-day practice match against a local team on June 29, 2009 at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground, Colombo. Pakistan cricket is currently suffering from the country’s unstable security condition and has recently been stripped off the host status of ICC World Cup 2011 by.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is currently busy in retaining their host status of next world cup which was originally scheduled to take place in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. However, following the Lahore terror attack on Sri Lankan team bus in March, Pakistan’s right as one of the four co-hosts of world cup was taken away in fear of lack of security in the country. However, PCB has recently issued a legal notice to ICC on this regard and PCB officials are now trying to get the supports of neighboring cricket playing nations like Sri Lanka so that Pakistan can get back their host status. Here, it is notable that ICC Champions Trophy, which was originally scheduled to take place in Pakistan last September, has now been relocated to South Africa in September 2009 on security ground.
Pakistan team has recently faced Australia in a five-match ODI series in UAE which they lost 3-2. Though Pakistan started off pretty well, clinching an emphatic victory in the first ODI, Pakistani players lost the momentum in the middle of the series, and eventually lost the ODI series with a match left in hand, losing three games in a row. However, Pakistan pulled off an easy win in the last match only to make it 3-2.
Sri Lankan team will go into the test series with their Lahore memory fresh in mind which caused minor injury to a number of Sri Lankan players. For both Sri Lanka and Pakistan, this will be the first test series since the Lahore terror attack. In that two-match test series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the Karachi test was drawn, before the Lahore test being stopped following the terror assault. Before that, Sri Lanka won the test series in Bangladesh in December-January.
However, Sri Lanka’s recent performance in ODI is not satisfactory at all as they lost the home series against India 4-1 earlier this year. Well, Pakistan may have also lost their recent ODI series against Australia, but Pakistan did not let Australia dominate all through the series. In fact, Pakistan won the first and the fifth matches of the series with sheer dominance. Both Sri Lanka and Pakistan would consider the ODI series as a platform to prepare themselves for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy which will take place in South Africa in September 2009.
Pakistan missed a lot of cricket over the last few years due to tumultuous security condition of the country. In fact, Pakistan did not play any test series at home last year. Well, you might think that Pakistan would face some problems in the test series as they did not play many test matches over the last one and half years. However, I do not think so because Sri Lanka has also played only 2 test matches so far this year and the Sri Lankan players will not have any more test matches before the home test series against Pakistan.
Coming from twenty20 world cup, both Pakistan and Sri Lanka might find it pretty difficult to adjust their mindset with test cricket. As Pakistan and Sri Lanka have asked their ICL players to cut the ties with the rebel ICL recently, you might see a number of ICL players coming back to the national team for the Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka, though it is less likely to happen, because even if ICL players cut their ties with ICL successfully, they have to play domestic cricket before coming into the reckoning of national selectors. However, I would not be surprised to see a number of ICL players coming back to national side with Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka.
Here, I am giving you the full schedule of Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka:
| Match | Date | Competing Teams | Time | Venue |
| Practice Match | June 29- July 1 Mon-Wed | TBC vs Pakistan | Local 10:00, GMT 04:30 | Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground, Colombo |
| 1st Test | July 4-8 Sat- Wed | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan | Local 10:00, GMT 04:30 | Galle International Stadium |
| 2nd Test | July 12-16 Sun- Thu | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan | Local 10:00, GMT 04:30 | P Sara Oval, Colombo |
| 3rd Test | July 20-24 Mon- Fri | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan | Local 10:00, GMT 04:30 | Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombos |
| Practice Match | July 27 Mon | TBC vs Pakistan | Local 09:30, GMT 04:00 | Welagedara Stadium, Kurunegala |
| 1st ODI | July 30 Thu | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan | Local 09:30, GMT 04:00 | Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium |
| 2nd ODI | August 1 Sat | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan | Local 09:30, GMT 04:00 | Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium |
| 3rd ODI | August 3 Mon | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan | Local 09:30, GMT 04:00 | Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium |
| 4th ODI | August 7 Fri | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan | Local 14:30, GMT 09:00 | R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| 5th ODI | August 9 Sun | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan | Local 14:30, GMT 09:00 | R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Only T20 | August 12 Wed | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan | Local 18:00, GMT 12:30 | R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
