11/08/2026 10:48:00
Printable Page
11/08 22:44 CST Sri Lanka captain Mendis wins toss, sends a new-look Pakistan
lineup in to bat in 1st cricket test
Sri Lanka captain Mendis wins toss, sends a new-look Pakistan lineup in to bat
in 1st cricket test
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) --- Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis won the toss and
elected to bowl first Monday in the first cricket test against a new-look
Pakistan lineup containing four players on debut.
Arafat Minhas, a spinning allrounder and player of the recent triangular ODI
series, fast bowler Saqib Khan and top-order batters Tayyab Arif and Mohammad
Taha were all on debut for the hosts.
Last-place Pakistan has won only two of the nine matches in this World Test
Championship cycle that included its chaotic 3-0 loss in England in the last
series and a 2-0 drubbing at the hands of Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka is ranked No. 7 in the WTC standings, winning just one of its six
test matches while drawing three and losing two.
Mendis, who replaced Dhananjaya de Silva as test skipper in October, hoped his
trio of fast bowlers will utilize the tinge of grass left on the wicket against
an inexperienced Pakistan top-order as the tourists left out their front-line
spinner Prabath Jayasuriya.
Sri Lanka has a recent happy memory at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium where it
achieved the second-highest successful run chase in ODI history --- 430 against
England in the tri-series last month.
Veteran Mohammad Abbas will lead Pakistan's pace attack with express fast
bowler Razaullah and Saqib. The home team also went without a specialist
spinner.
Sri Lanka has been in Pakistan for more than a month, losing the T20 series 2-1
and the final of ODI tri-series to Pakistan.
___
Lineups:
Pakistan: Azan Awais, Tayyab Arif, Mohammad Taha, Babar Azam (captain), Saud
Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Ghazi Ghori, Arafat Minhas, Razaullah, Mohammad
Abbas, Saqib Khan.
Sri Lanka: Kusal Mendis (captain), Lahiru Udara, Pasindu Sooryabandara, Dinesh
Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sonal Dinusha, Milan
Rathnayake, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka
___
See AP's full cricket coverage here
|
