Pakistan began their short Sri Lankan stop-over with an eight-wicket win, 23 balls unused, and Mike Hesson reckoned most of the boxes were ticked. A few dropped catches and a misfield or two aside, the visiting coach saw more than enough to feel reassured about World Cup preparations.
Sri Lanka were bundled out for 128 in Dambulla, a venue not on the T20 World Cup map but close enough in pace and grip to Colombo and Pallekele for Pakistan’s purposes. The chase never looked tricky; the damage had already been done with the ball.
“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.”
Those spinners caused most of the hurt. Shadab Khan, fresh off shoulder surgery and a quick stint in the Big Bash, returned 2 for 25. Abrar Ahmed went one better with 3 for 25. Sri Lanka have had their troubles against wrist-spin lately and, on a surface that did just enough, the trend continued.
“Look, the ball spun today – it wasn’t easy for batters,” Hesson added. “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.”
Depth in that department is handy. Mohammad Nawaz did not need to bowl, and Saim Ayub – officially the ICC’s top-ranked T20I all-rounder – spent his evening patrolling the deep.
“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.”
With the bat, Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Rizwan knocked off most of the target, leaving few talking points beyond gentle reminders of what’s still to come. Babar Azam, currently in Australia’s BBL, re-enters the mix before the World Cup.
“Babar provides a contrast to our batting group. We’ve got a lot of strokeplayers, and Babar provides the glue that brings everyone together.”
Pakistan fly south next, two more T20Is to fine-tune, and then the real thing in June. Sort the catching, keep the spinners ticking – simple on paper, rarely straight-forward in practice, but this was a brisk first step.
