Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena anticipates a keen contest between explosive batsman Sanath Jayasuriya and Pakistan's pace bowler Muhammad Asif when both the teams meet in the super eight match of the Twenty-20 World Cup here tomorrow, Monday at Wanderers stadium.
"I think much will depend how Jayasuriya handles Asif and if he overcomes him (Asif) then we can make a big difference against Pakistan", he said on Sunday. The Lankan captain said both of the players are the top performers of their teams and he expects a grim competition between them and if Jayasuriya deal Asif with the help of his batting prowess it can be a vital support to them.
Jayasuriya, a veteran of 398 one-day international is in a terrific form and has 149 runs to his credit in the two preliminary round match striking 61 against Kenya and solid 88 against New Zealand and Lanakan's are relying on his experience and form to revive their fortunes for their bid to win the Twenty-20 Cup.
"The clash between the two best players of both the teams will be a rare exhibition of skills and the (both) can be vital for giving their teams advantage", he added.
The Lankan captain termed Pakistan team dangerous and said it can shatter confidence of best teams of the world on its day. " They are not a easy opponent at all and they can cause danger to us and we have to very careful while playing them".
He mentioned sketchy fielding of his team is a main concern for him and definitely it should be brought to a satisfactory level to avoid giving away previous runs.
Jaywardena said indepth batting order is an added advantage for them and even they have reliable batsman Jehan Mubarak at number seven. "There is no problem at all in our batting , we are enjoying with the awesome performance of our batsmen and it is time for pace bowler Dilhara Fernando and Lasith Malinga to share some responsibility as they are members of the team from past two years and much is expected from them to deliver more in bowling".
He said the super eight stage requires that everybody fits inthe job and lesser mistakes are made and chances are availed and matches are played with greater determination and zeal. "Twenty-20 is a unpredictable format of one day cricket and I will say it is quite uncertain sort of cricket as the fate of a match can be changed at any stage with the individual performance of a player", he said.
Jayawardena said they are not only taking Pakistan as a tough rival and they are taking every game seriously as twenty 20 cricket is full of surprises.
"Look what happened with Australia they lost to Zimbabwe, West Indies were knocked out with defeats at hands of South Africa and Bangladesh and no one can say who is going to win till the last ball is bowled " he maintained.
Jayasuriya who scored fastest half century against Pakistan way back in 1996 in a one-day tournament in Singapore was beaming with confidence to maintain his flow of runs against Pakistan. "It is going to be a good match and hopefully I will be there in the middle to help my team".