Misbah: Sri Lanka should fear Ajmal

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Cricket365
August 5, 2014

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq says Sri Lanka's batsmen shouldn't be overly confident against spinner Saeed Ajmal, saying he will be a big threat if the decks help him even a little bit in the Test series.

Ajmal was not overly effective the last time the sides faced each other in the UAE January, but Misbah feels the tracks in Galle and Colombo will be much better suited to his number five-ranked tweaker, especially after his brilliant time in England for Worcestershire.

Misbah said: "I don't think Ajmal is less of a threat against Sri Lanka. That's more dependent on the conditions and the pitches you're getting, sometimes. In Abu Dhabi and Dubai the wickets were more grassy and more suitable for seam bowling.

"That's why most of the spinners – even Rangana Herath – weren't particularly impressive there. If there's turn, and if there's a little bit of grip, he's going to be a major threat for the batsmen."

He added of the conditions: "We've played a lot of cricket here in Sri Lanka. You could say these conditions are not much different from Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

"But in Galle especially, there is a little bit of seam movement and movement in the air. That's something the seamers are really interested in. You need to bowl well and as batsmen, you need to negotiate the seam bowlers really well.

"But everyone knows that in their own conditions, Sri Lanka are a really good team, so you need to play hard, disciplined cricket to come good against them."

Sri Lanka's main threat is, of course Rangana Herath, but Misbah is confident his batsmen will be able navigate past him: "I think we played Herath pretty well in the last series.

"It's more or less the same batting order, and the same guys who will play him again. Everybody is confident about that.

"He is one of the leading wicket-takers of Sri Lanka, but at the moment the confidence level of all our batsmen is very good against him. We'll try to play him like we did in the last series."