Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq is confident that his batsmen will be able to overcome the threat posed by Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Rangana Herath in the two-test series starting on Wednesday.

Herath has often proved to be a thorn in Pakistan’s side having taken 65 of his 237 test wickets against them in 15 matches, more than against any other country. “He is one of the leading wicket-takers of Sri Lanka at the moment but the confidence level of all our batsmen is very good against him,” Misbah told reporters on Tuesday.”Ours is more or less the same batting order and the same guys who played in the last series, everybody is confident about playing him.

In the last series played in the UAE which ended in a 1-1 draw, Herath took 14 wickets at an average cost of 36.64.

Pakistan has not won a test series in Sri Lanka since 2006.

“We tried our level best to get ready for this series, we had a good training camp in Karachi before we came here everybody is ready for the series,” Misbah said.

Pakistan have not played test cricket since the last series against Sri Lanka ended in the UAE in January.

“We worked hard on our fitness, before Ramadan we had a tough fitness camp and everybody is in good shape,” he added. “All the players are fit that is what Waqar (Younis) as coach wants from us.

Misbah said one of the key Sri Lankan players they will be targeting is batsman Mahela Jayawardene for whom this will be his final series before he quits test cricket.“He is one of the best batsmen in the world so we don’t want him to score runs because if an experienced player like him scores runs it will be difficult for you as an opposition to raise your game,” said Misbah. “We will be really focusing on that and try our level best to get him out early.”

Lakmal ruled out

Sri Lanka paceman Suranga Lakmal will miss the Pakistan test series due to an ankle injury, dashing the home team’s hopes of fielding their most potent new-ball partnership in the opening match on Wednesday. “Lakmal has sustained severe swelling above his left ankle following the second test against South Africa and unfortunately he is out of the series,” Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews told a pre-match news conference on Tuesday.

The injury to Lakmal, who was named in the 15-man squad for the two-match series pending a late fitness test, comes at a unfortunate time as it coincides with the return of new ball partner Shaminda Eranga.

Eranga had eight stitches in the webbing of his right hand, an injury he sustained in the first test against South Africa at Galle three weeks ago and missed the rest of the series.