The last time they met less than a month ago, Sri Lanka edged through by two wickets in a last-ball thriller against Pakistan to enter the Asia Cup final. The game was keenly contested and went down to the wire. The two teams know each other’s strengths and weaknesses very well, and it will be the team that makes the least mistakes that will emerge victorious in this 2023 Cricket World Cup clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad today.

Sri Lanka’s Assistant Coach Naveed Nawaz believes that it is going to be a good tussle. “Pakistan is quite a strong opposition. The only advantage that we have is that we have been playing them recently in the Asia Cup, so both teams know quite well about the strengths, weaknesses, whatever it may be.”

“The wickets have been good in Hyderabad. It has produced runs. There is a bit of bounce and it’s good for batting. So, I think it’s going to be a good game with two good teams playing each other. It’s a challenge for our boys as well. Against South Africa we had quite a good game with a lot of runs in Delhi so we are having a bit of confidence on our backs.”

Both teams would have had their eye on yesterday’s game between New Zealand and Netherlands played at this venue with New Zealand batting first notching up an impressive total of 322-7.

Sri Lanka bowlers need to come back from the pummeling they received at the hands of South Africa who hit them for the highest total in the World Cup 428-5.

“The pitches in India are going to be batting-friendly mostly. So, we’ve got to look at the execution in the game against South Africa and how we could have pulled back probably another 50-60 runs and then see what we could have done better,” said Nawaz.

“Keeping the group positive is the most important because it’s a long tournament. You’re going to be playing, traveling, and doing so many other things for over a month. So, it’s very important to keep everyone positive and you’re learning each game and moving forward.”

Sri Lanka’s bowling will be strengthened to a great extent by the return of spinner Maheesh Theekshana for today’s game. Theekshana, returning from a hamstring injury, sat out the first match against South Africa on medical advice.

“Obviously, we didn’t want to take a risk with him in the first game and didn’t want to go against the advice of the medical staff. I’m sure he’ll be available for this one. With Maheesh coming in, our bowling attack is going to be a little bit stronger. We’ll have a plan up front to take wickets and that’s the only way of containment. If you don’t take wickets, it’s going to be very difficult to contain.”

Nawaz who is also the Batting Coach of the side said that he was pleased with the way the batsmen took up the challenge of trying to compete with a total as big as 428 and posted a score of 326 in reply.

“When you’re chasing a total of 428, I guess there’s no confusion there that we need to go hard at it. We just wanted two or three guys to go big. That’s the only thing we were looking at. The guys who got runs, especially Kusal (Mendis), Charith (Asalanka), maybe Dasun (Shanaka), had they gone for a little bit longer, maybe another extra 30-40 runs by each one of them, could have got us close.”

“No guarantees when you’re chasing a score like that, but of course, we knew which direction we had to go and the intent was quite positive. We are quite happy as a group of how they went about. Throughout the tournament that’s our goal, to maintain the tempo and play positive cricket and post a challenge to every team we play.”

The advantage Pakistan holds over Sri Lanka is that they have played at this venue three times before (2 warm-up matches and the World Cup opening match against Netherlands) and they also have inside information from Mickey Arthur who coached Sri Lanka before.  

“We’re really looking forward to playing Sri Lanka. They’re a team that we’ve become familiar with over recent times, obviously with the Asia Cup, and we know well that they have had the upper hand on us over the last year in white-ball cricket,” said Pakistan Head Coach Grant Bradburn.

“But we know their players very well. We have a secret weapon, if you like, in Mickey Arthur, who has coached them before. Our scouting meetings and our video meetings this morning, Mickey was a very handy addition to be able to add in some intricate points around their batters and bowlers. We respect all opposition. We respect the skills that Sri Lanka possesses. And we’re really looking forward to taking them on tomorrow.”

“We’ve done our homework, we know what the conditions are likely to do and our players are certainly enjoying them. We’re well aware of what tomorrow’s wicket should do. But we’re trying to not overplay that, because the conditions are the conditions. It’s really about us bringing a determination for 11 players to play a winning impact in the game. That’s our real focus.”

This article was first published in DAILY FT, Srilanka