HAMBANTOTA: Pakistan will hope the Mahinda Rajapaksa Inter­national Stadium is their lucky charm as they go in search of a One-day International series win in Sri Lanka here on Tuesday.

The second of three ODI clashes had been scheduled for Colombo, but heavy rain forced the game to be moved to Hambantota, where Pakis­tan won the opener with a ball to spare.

After reeling at 106-5 chasing 276 for victory, Pakistan’s youngsters Sohaib Maqsood and Fawad Alam added 147 runs in 117 balls for the sixth wicket to see their side home.

It was only the second time in the last three years that Pakistan successfully chased a 250-plus target but they will have to face Sri Lanka in the second ODI without the services of batsman Younis Khan.

The 36-year-old veteran returned home on Monday following the death of his 10-year-old nephew.

Pakistan will also be unable to call on spinner Saeed Ajmal who was forced to miss the first two ODIs in this series while his suspect bowling action is tested in an Australian biomechanics lab.

However, a Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman confirmed they will not be seeking to add any replacements to the squad as fast bowler Mohammad Irfan is already in Sri Lanka as cover.

In an interview just prior to the ODI series, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said he would be using all the games between now and the World Cup in six months’ time as an opportunity to experiment with his line-up.

“I won’t be reluctant to make any changes,” he said. “I won’t be reluctant to experiment things in these ODIs. I’ll try and keep it simple, but all in all I’ll try to look at a good 15 for the World Cup. I’ll try and give opportunities to the players we need to look at. But we need to play to win as well.

“It’s going to be a tough ask, but we’ll try and experiment a few things.”

This could mean wholesale changes to the Sri Lanka top order for the second match after they failed to cope with Pakistan’s trio of left-arm seamers, leaving their team at 75-4 by the 18th over of the first match in the series.

HAMBANTOTA: Pakistan head coach Waqar Younis talks with Sri Lanka’s fast bowler Lasith Malinga.—Reuters

It was up to captain Angelo Mat­hews and veteran Mahela Jayawar­dene to put on 116 for the fifth wicket, and Ashan Priyanjan who smashed a 15-ball 39, to set Pakistan a competitive total, though it was not enough.

Teams (from):

SRI LANKA: Angelo Mathews (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal, Ashan Priyanjan, Lahiru Thirimanne, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Rangana Herath, Seekkuge Prasanna, Suraj Randiv.

PAKISTAN: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Anwar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Talha, Wahab Riaz, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Irfan, Sharjeel Khan.

Umpires: Ranmore Martinesz (Sri Lanka) and Steve Davis (Australia).

TV umpire: Sundaram Ravi (India).

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (Zimbabwe).

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2014