Openers, Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez have made a solid start for Pakistan in the third ODI after skipper; Misbah ul Haq won the toss against Dilshan led Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, on November 18, 2011.
The Men In Green skipper won his first toss of the limited over series and was in no doubt in electing to have a bat first on a track which has been surprisingly assistive to both bowling attacks.
The hosts showed stability in their opening berth after Hafeez and Farhat posted their first 50-stand of the series. However, the bowlers have applied considerable pressure with the pick being Thisara Perera.
Hafeez has been targeted by the Lankan bowlers and has found hard to rotate the strike, with an uncharacteristically slow scoring rate. His partner however, faced no such problem and fluently attacked the opponents’ bowling attack, going at almost run a ball.
Lasith Malinga started off the proceedings and went for ten in his first over, dispatched for two boundaries from either batsman. After that, the Lankan Lions managed to control the flamboyant nature of Hafeez, who played and missed quite a lot of delivery.
Dilhara Fernando generated pace and made things difficult for the batters with some good variations. Dilshan introduced himself and was tidy in his first over. The skipper than introduced leg spinner, Seekkuge Prasanna into the attack and the 26-year-old immediately was in the thick of action.
In an eventful first over, he caught Hafeez lbw after the batter attempted a sweep. With umpire fending off his appeal, Dilshan referred the decision and despite the ball hitting the top of off-stump, the on field called stood.
The team fifty was reached in the 13th over before Hafeez thumped Prasanna to the mid-wicket region to take the score to 57 at the end of 14.
Earlier, the Men In Green made one change to the team, which saw the return of Sohail Tanvir in place of Aizaz Cheema. The Lankans stuck to the same XI that emerged victorious from the previous match.
The five match series is tied one a piece so the third ODI holds significance in terms of physiological advantage for the remainder of the series.