Sri Lanka opt to bat v Pakistan

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat, in their pursuit of a series-levelling victory in the third and final ODI of the series against Pakistan.

Pakistan made two changes to the XI that won on Monday. Imam-ul-Haq who hurt the webbing on his hand, has been replaced by Abid Ali. They have also swapped one left-arm spinning allrounder out for another, bringing in Mohammad Nawaz in place of Imad Wasim.

Sri Lanka have made three changes. On the batting front, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Oshada Fernando have been omitted, with Minod Bhanuka and Angelo Perera replacing them. Allrounder Isuru Udana has also made way for left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan.

The surface for the second ODI seemed to have become more difficult for strokemaking towards the end of the game. Perhaps expecting this fresh pitch to behave similarly, captain Lahiru Thirimanne hoped to put up a competitive total first up.

The weather is expected to be good for the duration of the match.

Sri Lanka: 1 Avishka Fernando 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Minod Bhanuka (wk), 4 Angelo Perera, 5 Lahiru Thirimanne (capt.), 6 Shehan Jayasuriya, 7 Dasun Shanaka, 8 Lakshan Sandakan, 9 Wanindu Hasaranga, 10 Lahiru Kumara, 11 Nuwan Pradeep

Pakistan: 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Abid Ali, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Haris Sohail, 5 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt.) (wk), 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Usman Shinwari