ICC WT20: Pakistan face Sri Lanka in warm-up match

New Delhi: Pakistan will play their first and only warm-up match of the ICC World Twenty20 on Monday against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens. Due to the delay in arrival of Shahid Afridi's side, their first practice match against Bengal was canceled.
Sri Lanka were easily beaten by New Zealand in their first warm-up match at the Wankhede Stadium.
Both teams lost to Bangladesh in the recently concluded Asia Cup and are in need of putting up a strong show at the mega tournament.
The two Asian giants have had to deal with plenty of issues off the pitch ahead of WT20.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Sunday accused former selection committee chief Kapila Wijegoonawardena of hurting the morale of the national team ahead of their ICC World Twenty20 campaign by making "inaccurate and misleading" statements in the media.
While, several reports have indicated that all is not well between skipper Afridi and coach Waqar Younis. Moreover, Pakistan prepared for the tournament amid plenty of undertainty due to security-related issues in India.

Pakistan squad enjoying their WT20 pre-event activities in Kolkata

This last warm-up match presents a chance for both teams to get their combinations right. The Sri Lankans are well versed with the Indian conditions, as they were part of a three-match T20I series against the home team recently.

ICC World Twenty20 - Team Groups

Pakistan team has not played in India for a long time, hence their players need to acclimatize to the conditions as soon as possible.
There will be a lot of focus on star players from both sides and their respective team managements will want to enter the tournament on the back of a solid win.
Pakistan face Bangladesh on March 16 in their WT20 opener, while Sri Lanka play Afghanistan on the same day.