"We have not played much international cricket this year and have gone without a Test. But we are still looking forward to doing well against Sri Lanka," said Pakistan captain Malik.
"Mendis has been very impressive and has formed a formidable pair with Muralitharan. They troubled the Indian batsmen at home. So we know what we are going to be up against and we will prepare accordingly as they are different bowlers," he said.
"Hopefully the series would help ease some of the concerns about security some teams have about playing in Pakistan," Malik added.
"We need to play competitive cricket against top teams to test ourselves," he said.
Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam said "I am happy that in the period that we have had no international cricket the board has laid lot of emphasis on domestic cricket. The participation of top players has helped raise the bar in the domestic events and it has helped the selectors to observe the players closely,"
"The selection committee is a new one and has not seen the players up close so a short conditioning camp needs to be held," chief selector, Abdul Qadir said.