Sarfraz unveils playing eleven for first Sri Lanka ODI

Pakistan captain names players who will sit out the five-ODI series opener in Dubai

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed on Thursday revealed the names of the players who will be sitting out in the first of the five-match ODI series when asked about the team combination he is going to field against Sri Lanka.

While answering a question regarding his spin options for the first 50-over clash during a press conference, Sarfraz told the reporter that he has a variety of spinners at his disposal and most of them will be a part of the final eleven on Friday.

“We have options. We have left-arm spinners in the playing eleven, we have right-arm leg-spinners, and we also have two off-spinners, so we have good options in spin. I’ll tell you our playing eleven so you can better understand our combination. Usman Shinwari is not playing, Faheem Ashraf is not playing, Imamul Haq is out, and Haris Sohail will sit out. All others are playing,” answered Sarfraz.

Changes in captaincy

When asked if he will have to make changes in his captaincy after coming back from a Test series loss, Sarfraz said a little tweaking will be enough.

“As such there will be no changes. The captaincy in Tests is a little different. But in ODIs, the decision taken at the right time to bear fruits and I’ll try to exactly that.”

‘Team is motivated’

Sarfraz believes the loss in the Test series has not put the team down and the players are motivated for the ODIs.

“We are very hopeful. We’ve move forward from the loss the in the Test series. The [ODI] team is great. A lot of new players have joined our team for the ODI: some of them are seniors, some are great fast-bowlers and spinners. So the team is quite motivated and we hope to put a good performance in the ODIs,” he said.

He added that they would like to repeat the Champions Trophy performance. “After Champions Trophy, this is our first ODI series so guys are very motivated and hopefully we will perform well [like] in the Champions Trophy.”

Change in batting order

Sarfraz, at the moment, bats at number six for Pakistan, but considering his aggressive instinct many people think he should bat up the order, and he believes there might come a time when they experiment with batting positions.

“The team combination right now is that Babar is playing one-down, Hafeez is playing at number four, so right now the requirement of the team is the same batting order [where I play lower down the order]. We are trying to stick to it. We stuck to it in the Champions Trophy, but we might experiment with it in the coming times and I might bat up in the order.”

‘Sri Lanka a balanced team’

Sarfraz refused to play down Sri Lanka’s ODI side in the absence of pacer Lasith Malinga and former captain Thisara Perera.

“Sri Lanka’s team is good on paper. Their players are in good form. They have a balanced team. I hope the series will be competitive.”

Pakistan's ODI squad

Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Ahmed Shehzad, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Usman Shinwari (replaces Mohammad Amir), Rumman Raees, Junaid Khan, Haris Sohail and Imamul Haq.