5 things that makes Sri Lanka's 3-0 whitewash of Pakistan special

Pakistan vs Sri Lanka. T20I series. Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Leading into the series and especially after the cream of Sri Lanka first-choice XI made themselves unavailable for the tour, people shrugged it off as a ‘No Contest’.

But, hang on! It wouldn’t be Sport if everything was too predictable. And, Sri Lanka is at their dangerous best when everyone writes them off. Ask South Africa, who made the same mistake, and duly suffered a humiliating 0-2 Test series defeat in their own den. Ask England, maybe, whose World Cup campaign turned upside down and nearly collapsed following a shocking group-stage defeat against the 1996 champions.

Well! Don’t worry bothering South Africa or England anymore, make way for the newest entrant in the list: Pakistan. So, why exactly is this 3-0 hammering of the No.1 ranked side in the world so significant?

Here’s a look at the five possible reasons: 

Pakistan’s No.1 T20I rank

It was expected to be a stroll in the park! Wasn’t it? A fairytale homecoming in front of their own loyalists. And, there were enough reasons to be ecstatic owing to their respective positions in the ICC T20I rankings. Pakistan is currently ranked No.1 side in the world while the Sri Lankans have been struggling in white-ball cricket ever since the retirement of legends like Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, and Tillakaratne Dilshan.

In fact, the situation was so dire for the 2014 World Twenty20 champions, that they found themselves reeling at the ninth spot at the end of the qualification window for the next quadrennial event in Australia, and will now have to play the Qualifiers in order to compete in next year’s T20 World Cup alongside Bangladesh and the other associate nations.