Over 100 days after losing to Australia 1-0, Pakistan are set to return to Test cricket in an emergency-hit Sri Lanka. They have won several white-ball matches since then, including the recent 3-0 clean sweep of West Indies in the ODI.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka look to give some positivity to the people of their country, struggling with f inancial turmoil. They are coming on the back of a thumping innings win over Australia, which was preceded by a thumping 10-wicket loss. Sri Lanka won their previous Test series against Bangladesh and have been in good form over the last few months.
Pakistan thumped Sri Lanka by 263 runs in the last meeting between the 2 sides. However, the head-to-head record in the last 5 matches is balanced 2-2. The series will be a part of the World Test Championship where Sri Lanka are placed third, having played 4 series, and Pakistan are placed fourth after 3 series they have played in this cycle.
It is expected to be partly clouded in Galle on Saturday. The pitch has traditionally been good for batting, even though spinners do play a role. Once set, batsmen can play their stroke freely.
Teams bowling first comfortably won the last 2 matches at the Galle International Stadium. Teams batting first were dismissed for 151 and 113 in those games.
Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha
Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam(c), Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan(wk), Faheem Ashraf, Yasir Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali
Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq all scored close to 400 runs in the 3-match series against Australia while Nauman Ali and Shaheen Afridi picked up 9 wickets each.
Shafique and Azam also got some runs in the warm-up game.
Dinesh Chandimal scored 219 at an average of 109.50 in the 2-match series against Australia while Prabath Jayasuriya picked up 12 wickets in the only game he played.
Ramesh Mendis was also good with the ball.
Wicket-Keepers: Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Mendis, Mohammad Rizwan
Batters: Babar Azam, Dimuth Karunaratne, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq
All-Rounders: Dhananjaya de Silva
Bowlers: Shaheen Afridi, Nauman Ali, Prabath Jayasuriya
Dinesh Chandimal, Babar Azam
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