Pakistan and Sri Lanka go into the 4th ODI with Pakistan leading the series 2-1 and requiring a victory to seal the series. Sri Lanka have been a real mix bag in the series thus far, with the bowling being their strong point and not their batting.

The Sri Lankan's will be hoping to see their batting fire against a Pakistan bowling line-up that is performing to their high standards. The positive for the Lankan's has to be Dilshan and Sangakarra getting some runs but they need to be assisted by the likes of Chandimal and Mahela Jayawardene.

Likewise Pakistan, despite making a superb start of 151-0 in 30 overs slumped to only get 257. The worrying signs were how the batsman gave away their wickets in lacklustre style. Poor run-outs and getting caught at the boundary being set were not what you expect from a big nation.

Ground:

 
Sharjah is back with ODI's after 2003. Sharjah has hosted 200 ODI's (more than any other stadium in the World). Pakistan have played 108 of them games, winning 74 and losing 33 with 1 tie. Sri Lanka have played 75 games, winning 29, losing 44 with 2 ties. Both teams head to head comes out with a surprise reading with 32 games played, Pakistan winning 19, losing 12 and having 1 tie. So 37% of Pakistan's defeat's at Sharjah come at the hands of Sri Lanka.

Extras: 

 During the 2nd ODI, a plenty of extras helped Sri Lanka. Pakistani bowlers bowled 16 wides balls and had 25 extras, whereas Sri Lanka bowled only 7 wides and a total of only 13 runs were given on account of extras. Extras were a major difference between the two sides.

Running between the wickets:

Running between the wickets was really poor in the second ODI. Pakistan lost itheir 3 wickets because of some lethargic running. Pakistan's two important wickets of Abdul Razzaq and Shahid Afridi came off run outs. If any of both players would have stayed on the crease till the end, result would be quite different. Especially, Shahid Afridi's run-out was the turning point of the game.

Got to say,the Australian and ex-Coach of the Indian cricket team, Greg Chappell, after having written his hard-hitting and in-your-face autobiography 'Fierce Focus', will have to think real hard before he decides to land anywhere in  West Bengal or even  in India . He's likely to face the same cold reception that Scottish match referee Mike Denness would have faced in Mumbai after accusing Sachin Tendulkar of ball tampering in that great Test Match against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in November 2001 - had he decided to venture to the sub-continent. 

1) Not losing the test series. Not losing a test.

We won our 3rd test series by a 1-0 score line during the year and also Misbah won his 7th series as captain across all formats of the game in 9 series as captain to go along with 2 drawn series with only 1 defeat in 10 tests as captain after all the dramas the team had gone through. He has only been defeated once in 19 internationals as captain. He had led Pakistan to 3 test series wins this year which they have certainly not done ever since 2006 and they hadn’t won a single test series in 2007,2008,2009,2010 or won one outside the sub continent between 2004-2010, but this year he has not only won 3, but won them all outside the sub continent. It was Pakistan’s first major test series win against a top ranked side since Asif’s magic in 2006 (excluding New Zealand and West Indies).

 
Pakistan remains on 6th position in the rankings, but narrowly closes the gap between Australia and Sri Lanka who are in 4th and 5th position respectively. They gain 4 points from the result whereas Sri Lanka loses 5. Sri Lanka have had a 1-0 defeat in their last 3 test series this year against England, Australia and now Pakistan. After 14 tests after Murali they are yet to win with 4 defeats in that space of time and 10 draws.

First of all a big Eid Mubarak from all at Khelopakistan.com. We would like to credit out opening success to you the readers, who have made us writing articles worthwhile. As an Eid special I would like to write on my all-time Pakistan Test eleven. So here it is:

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Earlier in the day, Southwark Crown Court brought end to the most appalling scandal in the history of International Cricket, when final sentence was handed over to the guilty trio from Pakistan.

Southwark Crown Court’s Justice Cooke, in front of his jury announced the following jail time penalties for the defaulters:

• Salman Butt           :         2 years and Six months
• Mohammad Asif      :         1 year
• Mohammad Amir     :         6 months

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It's a known fact that Shahid Afridi favors Sri Lankan Bowling from Day 1. Followng is yet another entertaining knock in fat a century by Shahid Afridi against Sri Lanka in last year's Asia Cup.

A special gift for Lala fans at the eve of his comeback. ENJOYY!!!