Sri Lanka could bat first on winning toss, says Mathews

Chasing is his side’s strength but Sri Lanka captain signals strategy shift ahead of fourth ODI against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, writes Ahmed Rizvi.

Angelo Mathews wants Sri Lanka to be positive after trailing 2-1 in the ODI series. Satish Kumar / The National

DUBAI // Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lanka captain, has hinted he might consider batting first in the final two one-day internationals as they head to Abu Dhabi, down 2-1 in the five-match series.

Pakistan have batted first all three matches so far, putting up scores of 322 for five, 284 for four and 326 for five, and while the Lankans came close in the first game at Sharjah and overhauled 285 in Dubai, they lost by 113 runs in Sharjah on Sunday night.

Given the depth in their batting, with even No 11 Lasith Malinga boasting an ODI half-century, Mathews considers chasing to be their strength and has asked Pakistan to bat first in the past two matches.

The Pakistanis have been relishing that as their record in chasing targets has been far from impressive this year. They have 10 victories in the 18 matches in 2013 when they have batted first, but have won only five of their 14 matches batting second.

Mathews said Sunday’s failure to chase “doesn’t mean we will not bat second”.

He added: “You have to assess the conditions and the wickets first, and then decide on the combination and what we will do first. We need to play to our strengths, but we will rethink about our strategies and go forward.

“We’ve got nothing to lose. We just need to go out and express ourselves, be positive, be confident and try and win. We need to stay positive to win against Pakistan because we all know that they have got good batters and also bowlers. They have a pretty balanced team.

“So we will need to play a lot of positive cricket, try to take them on and try to win the game.”

On the other hand, the Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq is confident his batsmen will not let the team down should they be asked to chase a target. Batting first remains his first preference, but with the likes of Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammed Hafeez, Sharjeel Khan and Sohaib Maqsood in good nick at the top of the order, Misbah believes chasing will not be a problem.

“It’s all about confidence,” Misbah said. “The way this team is playing, all the batsmen are in form and all of them have been scoring runs, and big runs. So the confidence is high and even if you are chasing, you remain optimistic and know how to build your innings, how to pace the chase.

“So hopefully, we will be able to bat the same way in a chase and keep performing like this.”