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Aside from the fielding, everything looked more or less in order, thought Mike Hesson.
Pakistan are in Sri Lanka to get a taste of the conditions they will play their entire T20 World Cup in. Dambulla is not one of the World Cup venues. But it does not offer conditions that vary hugely with the Khettarama and the SSC, where Pakistan will play during the group stages, or Pallekele, where Pakistan will play if they qualify for the Super Eights.
But it is in Dambulla that Pakistan have arrived, and it is in Dambulla they have planted their flag. This win was easy. Almost too easy – an eight-wickets-and-23-balls-to-spare pounding. Hesson felt they had all their engines firing but the fielding. The bating was good, but it had been the bowling that set the game up, blasting Sri Lanka out for 128.
“I’d say it was a very clinical performance,” Hesson said. “We had some bowlers who worked really well to get into this side. I was really pleased the way we started with the ball. The way we attacked the stumps let us control the game. And then we were able to bring our spinners in. Outside of a little untidiness in the field, it was clinical.”
The spinners shared five wickets between them, in fact. Shadab Khan finished with 2 for 25 from his four overs, having come to Sri Lanka from the BBL in Australia. Abrar Ahmed did even better, picking up 3 for 25. Sri Lanka have a reputation for falling to pieces against wristspin, so clearly Pakistan had done their homework.
“Look, the ball spun today – it wasn’t easy for batters,” Hesson said. “And then you’ve got a couple of world-class spinners. Shadab’s been out of the game for a long time [for a shoulder problem that required surgery], but we know in conditions like this, he’s good. They tried to put Shadab off his lengths early, and we knew they would try to sweep, so Shadab went under the bat. It was pretty smart bowling. And Abrar has bowled nicely in these conditions. It’s always nice to have a couple of attacking options.”
Although Shadab and Abrar ran riot on a track that favoured them, they are not the extent of Pakistan’s spin resources, Hesson pointed out.
“We’re really fortunate with the amount of spin we have. The fact that both Shadab and Mohammad Nawaz are allrounders gives us flexibility with our options,” Hesson said. “And today you didn’t even see the bowling of Saim Ayub, who is the No. 1 allrounder in the world [in the ICC T20I rankings], and a lot of that is because he’s bowled so nicely.
“We’ve spent the last six months getting all those guys bowling well. So we have some tough choices to make.”
On the batting front, Pakistan were not pushed particularly far on Wednesday. But Babar Azam, who is currently playing in the BBL, will “slot back in” to strengthen Pakistan when the time comes, Hesson said. “Babar provides a contrast to our batting group. We’ve got a lot of strokeplayers, and Babar provides the glue that brings everyone together.”
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