KARACHI: After their tremendous rearguard sort of comeback against England, Pakistan now prepare to embark on a journey of self-belief that they’ll be keen on maintaining their resurgence when they come up against Sr Lanka in Bristol on Friday with proud World Cup track record to support them.

Seven times out of seven the luckless Sri Lankans had been beaten by Pakistan whenever came up against their Asian neighbours. But in three of those fixtures, Sri Lanka went extremely close to upsetting the applecart. Unfortunately, they didn’t get over the line despite getting so close.

In the inaugural World Cup way back in 1975, Sri Lanka were rated among cricket’s minnows and rightly so. Largely inexperienced on the international stage, they were just blown off their feet by a wounded Pakistan side that was already out of the knockout phase when the match at Trent Bridge was played.

In a horribly one-sided encounter, Pakistan walloped the men from tiny island in the Indian Ocean by a whopping margin of 192 runs. Contributions from Sadiq Mohammad (74) and stand-in captain Majid Khan (84) — the duo putting on 159 — and Zaheer Abbas (97) pushed Pakistan to a commanding 330-6 in 60 overs; Sri Lanka were bowled out for 138.

In the double-league event in 1983, also staged in the UK, Sri Lanka offered stiff resistance by posting decent totals of 288-9 in a 50-run loss at the St Helen’s in Swansea and 224 while chasing 236 at Headingley where Abdul Qadir’s wizardry fetched him figures of 5-44 and the man-of-the-match.

Javed Miandad’s 100-ball 103 set up a tense 15-run success for the co-hosts of the 1987 World Cup at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad after Pakistan had reached 267-6 in their 50 overs.

The return fixture at Faisalabad, however, turned to be a disaster for Sri Lanka as they suffered a 113-run drubbing after Saleem Malik’s 95-ball innings of 100 lifted Pakistan to 297-7.

The remaining two matches between these nations were keenly contested. During Pakistan’s triumphant campaign in 1992, Imran Khan’s charges sealed a four-wicket at the WACA Ground in Perth, while at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo the co-hosts battled hard before being curtailed to 266-9 by Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi’s superb return of 4-34 his team piled up 277-7.

Head-to-head summary

June 14, 1975 —Trent Bridge, Pakistan won by 192 runs

June 9, 1983 — Swansea, Pakistan won by 50 runs

June 16, 1983 — Headingley, Pakistan won by 11 runs

Oct 8, 1987 — Hyderabad (Sindh), Pakistan won by 15 runs

Oct 25, 1987 — Faisalabad, Pakistan won by 113 runs

March 15, 1992 — Perth, Pakistan won by four wickets.

Feb 26, 2011 — Colombo (RPS), Pakistan won by 11 runs.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2019