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‘Sri Lanka is the team to beat’

Karachi: His captain might say that there are no favourites in the Twenty20 four-nation international cricket tournament beginning in Toronto from Friday, but Pakistan vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq said the competition will be between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Misbah said he didn’t see Zimbabwe and Canada offering strong competition in the four-nation tournament. “The real competition will be between us and Sri Lanka because these are the two teams who can win the tournament,” Misbah said.

Interestingly, Shoaib Malik had said recently that they were no favourites in the Toronto event as in Twenty20 cricket any team can cause an upset and Zimbabwe and Canada cannot be taken lightly.

But Misbah felt differently. “Sri Lanka is the only team which we will have to work hard and play well to beat,” he said.

Misbah, however, feels that the tournament would give the players the much needed exposure at the international level as they were frustrated with the postponement of international series at home.

“The postponement of the Australians Test tour and the Champions Trophy has really been frustrating for all of us so in Toronto we finally have a chance to get back into action and try to win the tournament and bring some joy to our people,” he said.

Misbah said besides Twenty20 cricket, Pakistan needed to play more Tests and one-dayers to improve its rankings and remain in the top four or five in the World ratings. — PTI

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