LAHORE, 14 October 2004 — Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq said he would field a full-strength team in a bid to maintain their 100 percent record going into the final tri-series league match against Sri Lanka.
Inzamam said keeping momentum was crucial for Pakistan, who are already into the final having registered two straight victories over Zimbabwe and a win over Sri Lanka.
“Our final is also against Sri Lanka on this same ground, so we must win today to gain confidence for Saturday’s final,” said Inzamam ahead of the Gaddafi Stadium day-night clash.
“We will play full-strength to ensure we do our best to win the final league match.”
He added that he was hoping to bring consistency to the Pakistan side, which won four of its five matches in the Asia Cup and went down to hosts Sri Lanka in July. They beat India in the Holland tri-series before losing to Australia in the final.
Pakistan also shaped well in the ICC (International Cricket Council) Champions Trophy in England last month before abjectly surrendering to West Indies in the semifinal.
“Winning consistently is a must, we have been winning two three games and then come down. It has been happening to us in the last four or five tournaments, so winning this match and the final is very important,” Inzamam said.
The home team is boosted by the return of their regular wicketkeeper Moin Khan who has fully recovered from the fever which forced him to sit out the last two games.
“Moin is fully fit and we will try to play with a regular wicketkeeper,” said Inzamam, who used batsman Younis Khan as keeper in Moin’s absence.
Pakistan captain also dismissed reports that express pacer Shoaib Akhtar is not happy at his role of first change bowler.
“I am not aware of any thing like that,” he said.
Sri Lankan coach John Dyson, whose side beat Zimbabwe in one match while the second was washed out, termed Pakistan “dangerous” opponents.
The Sri Lankans suffered an eight-wicket defeat by the hosts last week.
“I have always said Pakistan are a very dangerous team, they are a tremendous batch of players and now with two games against them, we need to lift ourselves,” said former Australian Dyson international.
“On the 14th it would be just another game because the main game is the final on Saturday night,” he said.
“But it’s an important game because we have only played two matches in the tournament so far and the tune-up is very important on this ground.”
