KARACHI: When Pakistan take on Sri Lanka in their Testseries opener here at the National Stadium from Saturday (today) it would be no ordinary match.
It would be the first time that Pakistan will be featuring in a Test since December 2007 and also be staging the first Test in their backyard since they hosted South Africa almost a year-and-a-half back.
This Test would be Younis Khan's first assignment as a 'full-fledged' captain and will be seeing at least two local youngsters making their Test debut.
Live Streaming 2It would also be the beginning of the end of what had been quite a successful captaincy stint for Mahela Jayawardene. The articulate Sri Lanka batsman has decided to quit as captain after the two-match series in a bid to focus on his batting form that has dipped in recent times. A major milestone is just round the corner for Jayawardene, who needs 41 more runs to reach the 8000-run mark in Tests.
But both captains are looking forward to business as usual when the two sides clash in what promises to be an exciting Test.
"It's true that we haven't played a single Test in the last 14 months," Younis told reporters here at the National Stadium on Friday. "But fortunately the boys have played a lot of one-day cricket and some of those matches were against Sri Lanka.
Also, all of us have been regularly playing first-class matches and those four-day games have helped," added Younis, who was appointed as captain last month after all-rounder Shoaib Malik stepped down as skipper following Pakistan's embarrassing 234-run defeat against Sri Lanka in their ODI series finale in Lahore.
Pakistan's last Test was against India in Bangalore in the winter of 2007.
But Younis is promising a fresh start.
"The seniors are not going to be around for ever," he said. "It's not possible that Shoaib Akhtar remains with us continuously. (Abdul) Razzaq is not there, (Shahid) Afridi is not with us, but we have to deal with this and hope that the youngsters will do well."
Younis, 31, is hoping that his team's rookies will grab the opportunity and prove their mettle.
He will have at least two debutants in the side today as Pakistan have selected three uncapped players in the 12-man squad for the opening Test.
Local boy Khurram Manzoor, a talented opener, has found a place in it along with two other uncapped boys - Sohail Khan and Mohammad Talha - both pacers.
Not in the run to play the series opener are comeback middle-order batsman Asim Kamal, all-rounder Fawad Alam and teenaged opener Ahmed Shahzad. The trio is a part of the 15-man squad for the first Test.
Younis is looking towards his bowlers to give him a winning start as captain on what his Sri Lanka counterpart described as a "very good batting wicket".
"It's the bowlers who win matches in Test cricket," said Younis. "We have (Umar) Gul who is in top form then Sohail Khan has improved a lot while Talha is our future," he said.
Jayawardene said that the introduction of several fresh players in the Test squad means his side will not be affected by the fact that it has played non-stop cricket in recent weeks.
"We've mostly played one-day cricket in recent weeks and fortunately our Test side is quite different which means we have four or five players who are completely fresh for this series," he said.
Pakistan's 12-man squad: Younis Khan (captain), Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Sohail Khan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Talha, Yasir Arafat and Danish Kaneria.
Sri Lanka (from): Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Tharanga Paranavitana, Thilan Samaraweera, Malinda Warnapura, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof, Thilan Thushara, Suranga Lakmal and Prasanna Jayawardene.
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