Colombo, August 09: An unchanged Pakistan chose to bat in their bid to restore some pride on what has been a disastrous tour for them. Having won the fourth ODI, after the series was lost, Pakistan carried come confidence into the final 50-over match of their tour.
They were looking for a performance similar to the one two days ago at the same venue: they scored 321 and bowled Sri Lanka out for 175.
Sri Lanka, as expected, made a few changes to their line-up. Sanath Jayasuriya, Dammika Prasad and Nuwan Kulasekara came into the XI, taking the places of Thilan Samaraweera, Lasith Malinga and Thilan Thushara. Malinga and Thushara went for 153 runs between them in their 20 overs in the fourth ODI. Samaraweera, too, has had an unsuccessful return to the limited-overs version, managing only 50 runs in four innings.
Pakistan: 1 Kamran Akmal (wk), 2 Imran Nazir, 3 Younis Khan (capt), 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Naved-ul-Hasan, 9 Saeed Ajmal, 10 Mohammad Aamer, 11 Iftikhar Anjum.
Sri Lanka: 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Thilina Kandamby, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Dammika Prasad, 9 Malinga Bandara, 10 Nuwan Kulasekara, 11 Ajantha Mendis.
—–Agencies