Pakistan vs Sri Lanka: Relieved that I don’t have to bowl against Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, says Rangana Herath

Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan retired from Test after Pakistan’s Test series against West Indies.

Pakistan has named five uncapped players for the up-coming two-Test match series against Sri Lanka, which is scheduled to begin from September 28 in Abu Dhabi. Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka are going through transition periods and the series will be crucial for both the teams. During an interaction with cricbuzz, former Sri Lanka captain Rangana Herath revealed that he is relieved that he will not have to bowl to players like Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan.

“That’s a big relief that we don’t have to play against the two of them anymore. They were easily their two best players.Vastly experienced, very good players of spin and don’t give away their wickets easily. Pakistan will face a situation like us when we lost Mahela and Sanga around the same time,” Herath said.

Younis is the only Pakistani batsman to score 10,000 plus runs in Test cricket. Misbah, on the other hand, is Pakistan’s most successful Test skipper, winning 26 of his 56 Tests as captain.

Herath, who has played 83 Tests, is 11 wickets short of becoming second Sri Lankan bowler to take 400 Test wickets, join Muttiah Muralitharan.

“It will be a closely contested series. They are ranked sixth and we are ranked seventh. Our confidence levels took a beating during the Indian series and this is a good opportunity for us to lift our standards. Pakistan have some very good young players and I am looking forward for [to] the challenge,” noted Herath.

Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Mir Hamza, Bilal Asif and Mohammad Asghar are the five players who have been included in Pakistan 16-man squad.

The first Test will be played on September 28 followed by the second game in Dubai, a day-night Test. It will be Sri Lanka’s first pink-ball Test match. The tour also contains five ODIs and three T20Is.