LAHORE: Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field first against Pakistan in the fifth match of the ODI tri-series at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday.
Sri Lankan captain Kusal Mendis said the possibility of dew later in the match influenced his decision to bowl first.
Pakistan have already secured a place in the final, sitting atop the points table with six points from three victories. Sri Lanka have two points from two matches, with a win crucial to keeping their hopes of reaching the final alive.
Pakistan Playing XI
- Maaz Sadaqat
- Fakhar Zaman
- Babar Azam
- Saad Baig
- Hasan Nawaz
- Salman Ali Agha
- Arafat Minhas
- Shadab Khan
- Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain)
- Naseem Shah
- Haris Rauf
Pakistan made two changes to their playing XI, bringing in Maaz Sadaqat and Naseem Shah in place of Saim Ayub and Mohammad Rizwan. Sri Lanka retained the same team that played their previous match.
Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi said he would have opted to bowl first had he won the toss.
Reflecting on Pakistan’s performance in their previous match, Shaheen described the players’ efforts as positive and expressed confidence in the team’s depth, saying any player could deliver a match-winning performance.
He added that a total of at least 300 runs could prove competitive in the match.
