Inzamam puts Lanka in to bat

Toss Pakistan won the toss and chose to field v Sri Lanka

Pakistan took the field first after winning the final toss of the Paktel Cup. The same move, two afternoons ago, met with success, as Pakistan went past a total of 293 with six wickets to spare. If it was a preview to the final, as it was made out to be, the signs weren't good for Sri Lanka.

Eight years ago, Shane Warne was rendered ineffective by fancy Lankan footwork and the evening dew during the World Cup final at the same ground. Under lights, as Sri Lanka found out the day before, the Gaddafi could be a bad place for bowlers. And then there was the matter of most of Pakistan's batsmen being in good touch. The top five scored above 30 in the last game, and built partnerships that slowly drained hope. Inzamam-ul-Haq struck a matchwinning 76 off 59 balls and Shoaib Malik continued his run with his third fifty in four games.

But Sri Lanka have been known to fight back, and they could turn logic on it's head, the way they did eight years ago when they fielded first in the World Cup final. Marvan Atapattu struck a fluent hundred in the last match, and though the bowling attack was shred to ribbons, it's not often that Chaminda Vaas and his mates go for many in successive games. The management brought in Farveez Maharoof for Thilina Kandamby, for his ability with bat and ball, while Pakistan went in with an unchanged side.

Pakistan 1 Yasir Hameed, 2 Salman Butt, 3 Shoaib Malik, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Moin Khan (wk), 9 Mohammad Sami, 10 Naved-ul-Hasan, 11 Shoaib Akhtar..

Sri Lanka 1 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 2 Mahela Jayawardene, 3 Sanath Jayasuriya, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Saman Jayantha, 7 Dilhara Fernando, 8 Farveez Maharoof, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Upal Chandana, 11 Nuwan Zoysa.