KARACHI, Jan 19: Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik sounded confident on Monday about his team overcoming the threat posed by Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lanka’s spin sensation, in Tuesday’s first One-day International at the National Stadium.

While addressing a press conference shortly after the unveiling ceremony to launch the series trophy, Malik claimed that Pakistan batsmen were experienced enough to handle both Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan during the three-match series.

“There is no doubt in our mind about their stature. Both of them [Mendis and Muralitharan] are excellent bowlers and we will give them respect they deserve,” Malik told reporters. “We have played Mendis before with some success. We have drawn up a game plan to counter Mendis in particular.”

The Pakistan captain said winning the opening game would be very important. “Since we have to back-to-back matches [on Tuesday and Wednesday], both teams will be trying hard to win the first two matches and grab the series. Therefore, it is crucial for us to win both matches here.”

Malik said Shoaib Akhtar still remains an asset of Pakistan cricket, but he refused to confirm whether the fast bowler was a certain starter for the first match.

“We thought of playing four seamers when we saw the pitch on Sunday. But after another look at the track today [Monday], we may go in with three spinners. Shoaib Akhtar is an asset for Pakistan. You’ll all see the difference if he plays tomorrow,” Malik said.

Malik’s Sri Lankan counterpart Mahela Jayawardene told reporters he was unfazed by the absence of the experienced Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf, who has defected to the rebel Indian Cricket League a few weeks after playing in the Asia Cup.

“Yousuf is a great player but we are not worried who is playing and who is not. We will take Pakistan as a team and they are a good side,” Jayawardene said. “It will be good for us if we find Pakistan rusty [through lack of cricket]. And if they are not, then we’ll have to try our best to beat them.”

Trevor Bayliss, the Sri Lankan coach, also rated Pakistan highly and expected a competitive series between two evenly-matched outfits.

“Obviously Pakistan are one of the better teams in the world, and we are very much looking forward to playing them here. We all know they will be a tough [opponent] to beat. We’ll have to play good cricket to win,” said the 46-year-old former New South Wales batsman, who succeeded Australian compatriot as Sri Lanka’s coach after the 2007 World Cup.

Bayliss, said that his team had not planned a rotation policy despite almost playing non-stop since the tour of Zimbabwe last November.

“We have been on the road for two months and have played a fair bit of cricket along the way. Obviously, we have just to keep an eye on our players because we haven’t got a policy in place at the moment to rotate players. But we will have to assess the players after each game before deciding whether they would be playing the next match,” Bayliss explained.

Meanwhile, both teams practiced under lights on Monday.