SL vs PAK 1st Test Match Prediction

SL vs PAK Team Previews

Sri Lanka

Fresh off its successful campaign in the ODI World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe, the Sri Lankan team will be hoping to put up yet another good performance. However, Test cricket is a different ball game altogether and the home team will have to play out of its skin as it faces a quality opposition.

Sri Lanka is expected to go with an almost similar squad that whitewashed Ireland in the 2-match series earlier this year, barring a couple of changes. Leggie Lasith Embuldeniya is likely to miss out and will be replaced by Praveen Jayawickrama, who will be joined by Ramesh Mendis and Prabth Jayasuriya in the spin attack, while Asitha Fernando, who is recovering from a fever, might be unavailable for the series opener and will be replaced by Dilshan Madushanka.

The other bowlers in the pace attack include Kasun Rajitha and Vishwa Fernando. The batting will be one of the biggest strengths for Sri Lanka. Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne was in excellent form during the ODIs and will be joined by Nishan Madushka as the opening partner.

The middle order will consist of Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya De Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Matthews, and Dinesh Chandimal. Overall, Sri Lanka has a well-balanced squad at its disposal. 

Pakistan

The Pakistan team showed good form in the warm-up game where they scored 342 runs against the Sri Lanka President’s Eleven. They will now hope that they can manage to continue with the same momentum in the upcoming match.

Babar Azam will lead the team here and will be banking on the support of fellow senior players including Sarfaraz Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Imam ul-Haq, and Abdullah Shafique. The latter two opened the batting in the practice match and got a decent start, but failed to convert it into a big inning.

Aamer Jamal and Muhammad Huraira, who have shown good form in the domestic circuit off late have earned their maiden Test call-ups and might find a place here. The visitors will have a potent pace attack at their disposal as Shaheen Shah Afridi makes a comeback in the red-ball squad after a gap of almost a year.

He will be joined by Hasan Ali and Naseem Shah, both of whom are excellent seamers. The spin attack will be led by Abrar Ahmed, who is the only specialist spinner on the squad. However, Pakistan has plenty of all-rounders who can chip in, including Mohammad Nawaz and Nauman Ali.