Top 5 Gains for Pakistan from their Sri Lanka tour
A lot of Pakistan fans have just been gifted the memory of a lifetime. Pakistan has beaten Sri Lanka in its own den, one of the hardest things to do in the game of cricket. More importantly, Pakistan has outclassed the hosts in the Tests and then in the ODIs.Pakistan won the Test series 2-1, which includes an unbelievable fourth innings chase in the last Test of the series. They then went on to dismember the Sri Lankan attack winning the ODI series even before the fifth game.2015 might be Pakistan’s brightest cricketing year in a while, considering they hosted Zimbabwe in an international game played in their country after years. More importantly, many are seeing this as the resurrection of their cricketing fortunes after the abyss they hit with a 0-3 Banglawash.There are many positives for Pakistan to take from the Test and ODI series wins. Some of them might be the results of careful, patient culturing which is always a good sign, especially if you are a cricketing country known for its volatile players and its volatile Board.Their ODI wins have increased significance, given they are competing for a spot in next year’s Champions Trophy (yes, the T20Is are yet to be played but Pakistan have already made their fans proud).Here are the top 5 gains for Pakistan from the Sri Lanka tour.
#1 Excellent ODI opening partnership
Pakistan’s opening partnerships during this series read 47, 59, 93, 75 and 51. That is as good as it gets for a team known for imploding often, very often. In Azhar Ali and Ahmed Shehzad, Pakistan have solidity at the top.
While Shehzad could be rash at times, batting with his more mature and calm skipper will really help. It is interesting that Azhar took this interesting step, exchanging his No.3 position with Mohammad Hafeez.
Hafeez, playing as a batsman in the team, raked up a century and two half-centuries in the five ODIs making the top order extremely solid. Although there is constant controversy over his action, his four-wicket haul in the first game would have definitely helped his confidence.