Pakistan and Sri Lanka will face each other in the eventual quarter-final on June 12 at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, which will give the winner a direct ticket to the semifinals of Champions Trophy.

Pressure is on both the teams, as no one can predict both the teams to be a contender to win the Cup. From this group, India and South Africa were rated favourites, the latter had already been ruled out of the tournament. Going in the game, after looking at the performance of both the teams in the tournament till now, rating any of the team as the favourite will not be the best thing to do. Pressure is on both the sides due to the intensity of expectations from their fans.

Sri Lanka has a young line-up and a strong bench strength, on the other hand, Pakistan have the tag of unpredictable, a fact that is accepted by the all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez as well,

“I’ve been a fan of that tag, given by many – unpredictable team. I’m very happy with that, and that’s what you can see. As a team, we’re always been very aggressive. The first time it was given to the Pakistan team was when we won the World Cup 1992. If you see the history of Pakistan cricket, from there till now, we’re always unpredictable. We have the talent, but still, you never know when it comes. That’s something the always opposition thinks about. They never take us lightly,” he said a day ahead of the game against Sri Lanka.

Further, he added that the team is ready for the challenge against Sri Lanka, which will decide the future of both the teams,

“As a team, we are ready and crystal clear when it comes to preparation, when it comes to the role. And the situation is very clear in front of us – we have to win the game because rest of the things is just irrelevant. Once you are clear, then everything will fall into place. So we are ready. We know this is a game we all want to win and want to go through to the semis.”

The match will be played in Cardiff. Before the start of the game, Sri Lanka suffered a big blow, as Kusal Perera has been ruled out of the tournament due to a hamstring injury. He has been replaced by Dhanjaya de Silva for rest of the tournament.