Pakistan is looking to add another Asia Cup title to its tally of two as it takes on Sri Lanka, who is chasing a sixth Asia Cup title, in the final in Dubai on Sunday.
Key players Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan sat out in the Super Four match on Friday that virtually turned out a warm-up match for the final. Though Pakistan lost the match by five wickets, head coach Saqlain Mushtaq revealed that they were concentrating on the bigger picture and that was to win Asia Cup.
“We just wanted to try a few things as our concentration is focused on the final. You would see a different Pakistan team to what you saw the other day in a relatively insignificant match. Every player would be seen at his best in the final as all our energies are focused on winning the Cup.”
Captain Babar Azam said that Pakistan was just one match away from the title as such there would be an all-out effort to make the opportunity count.
“We have seen some exciting matches in the run-up to the final. I am lucky to captain a team that is full of potential. Every player is a matchwinner. We see a new Man of the Match in every match. Naseem Shah’s two sixes against Afghanistan reminded us of Javed Miandad heroics.”
Babar pointed out that toss would play an important role in the outcome of the final on Sunday. “As you know the team batting second always has the advantage in Dubai. Here again, I feel that toss will have its role in the outcome of the match.”
“Every captain and team, dreams of winning the trophy. As a team, our goal is to perform well and win the tournament.
We saw during last year’s ICC T20 World Cup that chasing teams were seemingly favored by the conditions in United Arab Emirates and Oman and this trend has continued at the Asia Cup.
The team batting first has won just three matches at the tournament thus far and it’s likely that the winning captain will once again elect to field should the coin flip go their way at the toss on Sunday.
While India have dominated the Asia Cup throughout its existence with a total of seven titles, Sri Lanka aren’t far behind them with a total of five and the most recent of those came in 2014 when they defeated Pakistan by five wickets in the final in Bangladesh.
That was both teams most recent appearance in an Asia Cup final, but a lot has changed since that decider some eight years with this year’s tournament reverting to the shortest format and played under T20I conditions.
Pakistan have surprisingly won the Asia Cup just twice, with their most recent triumph coming back in 2012 under the captaincy of Misbah-ul-Haq.
Squads [probables]:
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan (vc), Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain.
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Danushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Pramod Madushan, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka.
