Battle for survival in Asia Cup

PAKISTAN TAKE ON SRI LANKA IN A MUST-WIN SUPER FOUR MATCH TODAY IN ABU DHABI

- BY JAYDIP SENGUPTA

Pakistan players celebrate an Indian wicket during their Asia Cup Super Four match in Dubai.

(AFP)

It will be a battle for survival as Pakistan, smarting from their six-wicket defeat against India, take on Sri Lanka, who too lost their opening Super Four match against Bangladesh by four wickets.

While a setback in today’s match may not be the end of the road, it will definitely take matters out of the losing side’s hands, as they will then have to rely on other results going their way, but more on that later.

For today’s match, both teams will be desperately seeking to reverse their fortunes in order to get their campaign back on track. As things stand now, Sri Lanka have a better net run rate compared to Pakistan — after having only been narrowly beaten by Bangladesh — so for Salman Ali Agha’s side, a win — preferably a big one — will go a long way in resurrecting their chances of making the Asia Cup final.

Against India on Sunday, despite their batters doing a decent job and putting up a fighting total, the bowlers failed to put any kind of pressure in the Powerplay overs, letting India get off to an absolute flyer. Sri Lanka too posted a similar total to Pakistan, which Bangladesh overhauled with just one ball to spare.