LAHORE: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq on Friday expressed faith in his team to overcome lack of Test cricket during the past six months and give tough time to hosts Sri Lanka in the two-Test series starting from Aug 6.

Talking to the media here, Misbah said: “It is true that we have not played a Test match in the last six months, but the players are doing efforts in the training camp to overcome this factor as they are playing a good number of short matches to get back their rhythm.”

Pakistan had played their last Test against Sri Lanka in Sharjah last January which they had won to draw the three match series 1-1. But after that they have only played limited over events — the Asia Cup and the World T20 — both in Bangladesh.

“We will try to win the first Test in Galle and as the hosts have lost their opening Test in the ongoing series against South Africa on the same ground last week, they will be under pressure and we will try to take advantage of that,” Misbah said.

“We will try to play with the same spirit with which we won the last Test against Sri Lanka in Sharjah due to excellent work done by the bowlers.”

He said Pakistan would try to play maximum international cricket and playing against Australia in a full series before the World Cup-2015 would also be a great opportunity to assess our strength before the mega event. Pakistan will meet the Aussies in the UAE in October this year.

He said both pacers Junaid Khan and Mohammad Talha had the potential to deliver on SL tour and earn a win for Pakistan. However, he said, in Sri Lanka spinners will have to play a major role as the pitches there are more conducive for slow bowling.

About the induction of two foreign coaches Grant Flower and Grant Luden, Misbah said every coach always try to give his best to bring improvement and now it was the responsibility of the players to get maximum benefits from the coaching of the two officials.

He also welcomed the return of seasoned campaigner Younus Khan in the one-day squad and expressed hope he would play a leading role with his batting abilities. He added that the tour selection committee would decide wither Umar Akmal or Asad Shafiq would make the playing eleven in Test series.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2014