Confident Pakistan seek revenge

Pakistan are determined to take revenge for their poor showing earlier in the competition when they take on Sri Lanka in the final of Sharjah Cup on Wednesday.

Pakistan lost both of their league matches to Sri Lanka, but qualified for the final on the strength of their two victories over an injury-hit New Zealand.

"The victory (on Monday) has given the team a new confidence," Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis said.

"No doubt, we lost both of our matches (to Sri Lanka), but that's history. What counts now is the mood of the team, which is very positive.

"We need a good start from our openers Shahid Afridi and Imran Nazir. And if that happens it would make no difference whether win or lose the toss."

BLAZING START

Led by Shahid Afridi who stroked an unbeaten 108 off 92 balls, they produced an explosive display of batting to decimate New Zealand, winning Monday's league match by eight wickets with 111 balls to spare following their 51-run win in their first match.

Afridi and Nazir (57) made a blazing start to the innings, scoring 101 in 87 balls to set up Pakistan victory.

"Basically, we did nothing wrong in our last league matches (against Sri Lanka). Our second match, in particular, was pretty close," said Waqar Younis.

In that match Sri Lanka pacers Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa conceded just nine in last three overs to guide their team to a nine-run victory.

If Waqar Younis thinks the openers hold the key to their success, his counterpart will be banking on his spin-pace attack to deliver the goods.

"The wicket here is taking a bit of spin and I hope Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) comes good again," said Sanath Jayasuriya, referring to his off-spinner who took three wickets for 27 runs as Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 41 runs in their first match.

"I think the biggest plus of our team is that Vaas and Zoysa are bowling pretty well and giving full support to Murali.

"I don't want to predict the outcome of the final, but we have faith in our abilities to repeat our league performances," he said.

Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka are at full strength for this $250,000 tournament while New Zealand were considerably weakened by the absence of their top six players, including Chris Cairns, Lou Vincent, Shane Bond and Daniel Vettori.

"The tournament gave us a good chance to get used to conditions here ahead of tour of Pakistan," captain Stephen Fleming said.

The winner of the tournament will receive a purse of $120,000 while the runners-up will be awarded $80,000. New Zealand received $50,000 for finishing third.

Pakistan (likely): Waqar Younis (captain), Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Inzamam-ul Haq, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Abdul Razzaq, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq.

Sri Lanka (likely): Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Russel Arnold, Tillekaratne Dilshan, Kumar Dharmasena, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Upul Chandana.

Mail Cricket Editor