Pakistan play for pride, Sri Lanka aims for whitewash in final T20I

• Pakistan experiment with Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal failed.
• Pakistan aim to avoid whitewash against the visitors.

With the home series already lost 2-0, the Men in Green would play for pride and also to avoid a whitewash in the third and final T20I against Sri Lanka tonight (Wednesday) at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

The T20I series has been a tale of nightmares for the top ranked side after they failed to deliver in all departments against an inexperienced but ambitious Sri Lankan squad.

The Pakistani batting line boosting the likes of world’s best T20 batsman Babar Azam has failed to reach targets, as they have continued to give away wickets on crucial situations, whereas the mighty bowling line too seemed powerless against the Lankan young guns that have gone to score in excess of 160 runs on both occasions.

Pakistan’s experiment with inclusion of Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal has miserably backfired, as the duo failed to make their presence felt in both matches. It seems that the two has done more harm than good to their careers with Umar Akmal yet to open his account in the series, and with back-to –back golden ducks already holds the record of most ducks in T20I alongside Sri Lanka’s Tillakarante Dilshan.

The Pakistani bowling needs to make some serious adjustments, the spin department especially Shadab Khan doesn’t seem the leggie he used to be, whereas the fast bowlers need to correct their line and lengths.

“Losing is never good, especially against a team that is without their major players, and it's an eye-opener; we can see deficiency in every department: bowling, batting and particularly the way we got out against spin, and also our death bowling,” said Head Coach Misbah-ul-Haq.

Squads:

Pakistan: Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shehzad, Sarfaraz Ahmed(w/c), Umar Akmal, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Wahab Riaz, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Faheem Ashraf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Usman Shinwari, Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Sohail

Sri Lanka: Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dasun Shanaka(c), Minod Bhanuka(w), Isuru Udana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Kasun Rajitha, Nuwan Pradeep, Angelo Perera, Lahiru Madushanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Lahiru Kumara, Oshada Fernando