Pakistan to bat first in 1st T20 against Sri Lanka

Chaturanga de Silva, Jeffrey Vandersay, Shehan Jayasuriya, Binura Fernando and Dasun Shanak are the five uncapped players in their line-up.

After clinching the five-matches limited over series 3-2, ODI captain Azhar Ali is hopeful Pakistan will repeat the dose in the Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka, earning the team an unprecedented treble against the hosts.

The R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo hosts both matches and Pakistan lead the head-to-head record between these two in Twenty20 cricket, with seven wins to five.

Sri Lanka skipper Lasith Malinga thought otherwise, he says he would have bowled first too had he won the toss.

Milinda Siriwardana (35) and Dhananjaya de Silva (31), two of the four players who made their 20-over debut for Sri Lanka in this match, tried their best while Chamara Kapugedera (31) clobbered three sixes in his unbeaten 16-ball blitz but it was not enough.

Test and one-day regulars Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne have been omitted, but seasoned seamer Nuwan Kulasekara has been recalled after being ignored for the one-day series.

This would be the last and important series for Sri Lanka as a loss here could result in great loss of morale. “We need to put them on the ground and see how they perform”.

Pakistan have the experience of Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Yasir Arafat to call upon as well as bright new talents such as Imad Wasim and Mukhtar Ahmed.

Left-arm fast bowler Wahab Riaz, sidelined with a fractured hand since the second Test, will be replaced by another left-arm quick Ziaul Haq. Mathews, Lasith Malinga and debutant Binura Fernando picked 1 wicket each.

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who had played two T20 internationals back in 2011, has also returned to Pakistan’s shortest-format squad after four years.