Malik confident of an engrossing series against Sri Lanka

Lahore, Dec.28 (ANI): Showing his happiness on confirmation of the Sri Lanka's tour, Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has said that his team is ready to give stiff competition to the 1996 world champions.

"We have not played much international cricket this year and have gone without a Test. But we are still looking forward to doing well against Sri Lanka," the News quoted Malik, as saying.

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"We need to play competitive cricket against top teams to test ourselves," he added.

Pointing out the strength of Sri Lanka team, Malik said that the spin duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis is the mainstay of the visitors bowling attack."Mendis has been very impressive and has formed a formidable pair with Muralitharan. They troubled the Indian batsmen at home. So we know what we are going to be up against and we will prepare accordingly as they are different bowlers," he said.

Malik expressed that the series will help the team to come out of the shock of cancellation of the Indian tour. He considered the Lanka series as a big boost for Pakistan cricket, which needed to host a team at home after a series of cancellations.

Malik hoped that the series will reduce fears of teams around the world, who had refused to tour the country due to security concerns.

"Hopefully the series would help ease some of the concerns about security some teams have about playing in Pakistan," he said. (ANI)