Sri Lanka give effective debut to Viyaskanth vs Pakistan as Shaheen Shah Afridi misses out for the hosts this game.
Sri Lanka bat and hand effective debut to Viyaskanth; Shaheen misses out for Pakistan.
Dasun Shanaka, the acting captain of Sri Lanka, won the toss and decided to bat first in Rawalpindi.
After losing to Zimbabwe in their opening match of the tri-series, Sri Lanka made three changes to their starting lineup. The most well-known of these is the arrival of legspinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, who becomes the first Jaffna native to play a significant international match for Sri Lanka. The 23-year-old Viyaskanth has previously represented Sri Lanka in a Twenty20 International, but that was in the Asian Games, where Sri Lanka sent a considerably weaker team. In the XI, he takes Maheesh Theekshana’s place.
Kamil Mishara and Janith Liyanage are the other two batters who will join the starting lineup. The players to give way are batsman Bhanuka Rajapaksa and seamer Nuwan Thushara. After trying 6-5 in the previous game, Sri Lanka has returned to a 7-4 combination.
In the meantime, Pakistan has changed one thing. Mohammad Wasim, who had been playing well in the ODIs before the T20I series, takes Shaheen Afridi’s place due to a foot injury.