All roads will lead to the R Premadasa Stadium for what promises to be an exciting contest.
The match could come down to a battle of the bowlers, with both sides featuring some of the best spinners and pacers in the world.
The spin attacks will be led by Ajantha Mendis for hosts Sri Lanka and Saeed Ajmal for Pakistan, while Lasith Malinga and Umar Gul will be the main pace threat for their respective sides.
Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene is not going to let his team be affected by the hype surrounding the spinners. “Ajmal and Mendis have been playing for five or six years now and I am not too sure whether there’s any mystery left. A lot of the guys have played them many times,” he said.
“They are quality spinners, but it is tough to call them mystery spinners. It is a big game for everyone, not just for those two guys. We need to do the little things right and control the things that are under our control.”
Jayawardene’s Pakistan counterpart, Mohammad Hafeez, knows Mendis is a real threat in the shortest form of the game. “As far as Mendis is concerned, he is one who is always very good in Twenty20s. We have played with each other quite often so we know each other as players and so we will come up with a plan for him,” said Hafeez, who used only spinners until the 18th over in their big win against Australia on Tuesday.
Pakistan exposed Australia’s weakness against spin, as did Sri Lanka against England. However, in this contest both teams have batsmen who are excellent players of spin.
Hafeez said: “Every team who reaches the semi-finals are a good team, there’s no doubt about that and we know the Sri Lankans especially are playing very good cricket.
“At the moment we as a team are happy with our progress. We’ve seen some ups and downs, but we have come out with some positive results.”
Hafeez added that he has been delighted with the rise of another fine spinner in the shape of 20-year-old Raza Hasan, who was man of the match against Australia.
“Raza has got talent and that’s why he has been selected. In the last two to three years he has been very consistent in domestic cricket, he has shown a lot of maturity and hopefully he will do well on Thursday as well,” he said.
“All my players are playing with positive intentions and they are all prepared for it. We are not relying on any one player and in every match we are discovering a new match-winner.”
Jayawardene, meanwhile, is wary of the threat of Pakistan’s veteran all-rounder Shahid Afridi. “Shahid is a big game player, a good all-round cricketer who does well with both bat and ball,” he said.
“But it’s not just about Shahid — they are a dangerous unit and they have some quality players. We have some match-winners as well and we need to turn up and perform.”
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