Sri Lanka v Pakistan 1st Test Preview and Live

Following the disappointment in the ODIs, Pakistan will be keen to fix their track record on the ongoing Sri Lankan tour as the action moves to the Test matches with the first test in Galle from Friday.

The hosts will start off as slight favorites given their recent form as well as their reputation on home soil.

Pakistan will look to put aside their disappointment from the one-dayers where they gave away two matches from almost-won situations and collapsed under pressure.

With Misbah ul Haq serving a one-match suspension due to slow over-rate in the final ODI, the team will be led by Mohammad Hafeez who made his T20 captaincy debut as well on this tour. There have been several changes to the team for the test matches with Taufeeq Umar, Faisal Iqbal, Adnan Akmal and Junaid Khan amongst the six players to have flown in.

Team selection will be an interesting talking point for Dav Whatmore with Younis Khan out of form while Mohammad Sami’s horrendous show in the last match.

On the other hand, the Sri Lankan camp is pretty upbeat and eagerly looking forward to the opportunity to dent Pakistan a bit more. They will see this as a perfect opportunity to avenge the defeat in UAE last year.

Mahela Jayawardene singled out handling pressure as the primary reason behind Sri Lanka’s success. Thisara Perera, the Man of the Series in the ODIs, has also been included in the test 15-man test squad that comprises of only one uncapped player – Jeevan Mendis.

Rangana Herath would be the hosts’ trump card as they look to repeat the damage they inflicted on Pakistan during the last home series against Pakistan in 2009. Herath has the second most wickets at the ground with 30 wickets, way behind Muttiah Muralitharan’s 111 wickets.

The match will be played at the Galle International Stadium starting at 10.30am local time.