LAHORE - Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has welcomed the confirmation of Sri Lanka's tour here next month and said his team was preparing for close contests in the Test and one-day series. "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," Malik, who is expected to be retained as captain for the series, said on Saturday. He said it would be an engrossing series with Pakistan batsmen gearing up to tackle Sri Lanka's spin duo - Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis. "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. Malik said Sri Lanka's confirmation of the tour was a big boost for Pakistan cricket, which needed to host a team at home after a series of cancellations. "Hopefully the series would help ease some of the concerns about security some teams have about playing in Pakistan," Malik was quoted as saying. He said if the board retained him as skipper he would enjoy the challenge of captaining the side in Test matches once again, especially against a strong side like Sri Lanka. "We need to play competitive cricket against top teams to test ourselves," he said.