Amidst the economic turmoil, Sri Lanka Cricket has shown enough guts to conduct back to back series, initially against Australia and now against Pakistan. However, Pakistan won the 1st match of the Series at Galle.
Pakistan chased a massive total 342 leaning on the shoulders of Abdullah Shafique in the second innings. But one cannot deny skipper Babar Azam’s contribution in the first one. It was who stood as a wall to let his team enjoy a balanced position before walking in for bowling.
Pakistan to seal the series; Sri Lanka will hope to come back
If one looks at the Sri Lanka line up, its not many who contributed with the bat other than Dinesh Chandimal. That bloke contributed 76 and 94 runs in the first and second innings respectively. Though, Kushal Mendis helped a bit in the second (76), it wasn’t enough for SL to touch the winning line. Bowling was not upto the mark keeping aside Prabhat Jaysuriya’s effect
However, Pak bowlers were outstanding. The literally covered the batters’ loopholes, and guarded it to the win. Pakistan will try their heart out to draw a result, instead of sharing the trophy. And it won’t be a wonder the Lankans to go for a win opting to level the series.
Pitch Report
The decider Test will be conducted at Galle only. Sri Lanka hardly has any option but to shift everything at Galle. SL skipper Dhananjaya De Silva expected to score around 350 to 400 runs in the first innings to control the game. But all they could manage was just 222.
Galle will be hosting 4th consecutive test match tomorrow. Turn will be definitely there at Day 1, but the pitch will behave a bit tricky with Days. Hence, the team winning the toss may opt for batting. As a result of that, they can enjoy batting as long as suitable.
Playing Combinations for Pakistan vs Sri Lanka
Pakistan
Pakistan probably will opt to play the winning combination. But the speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi wont be available. He is suffering from a knee injury. Harris Rauf may find a place in the 11.
PREDICTED PLAYING XI:
Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (c), Mohamad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Yasir Shah, Hasan Ali, Naseem Shah
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka hardly changes anything. Tomorrow, hopefully the same team will be padding up. But Lasitha Manasinghe has replaced Maheesh Theekshana, and make his Test debut. Apart from that, tomorrow will be counted as Angelo Mathew’s 100th Test match.
PREDICTED PLAYING XI:
Oshada Fernando, Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Ramesh Mendis, Prabhath Jayasuriya, Lakshitha Manasinghe, Kasun Rajitha
Sri Lanka vs Pakistan Match Details
Date :- 24th July – 28th July
Time :- 10:00 am
Venue :- Galle International Stadium
