Sri Lanka opted bat first as Shanaka eyes on big score

Online Desk

Dasun Shanaka won a crucial toss for Sri Lanka against Afghanistan in Lahore and decided to bat first. He confirmed that Sri Lanka had an unchanged XI.

Hashmatullah Shahidi said that he would've bowled first in any case, as they feel more comfortable chasing in a scenario where they need to overcome Sri Lanka's net run rate. Afghanistan too named an unchanged side, reports espncricinfo.

As for the pitch and conditions, it's another hot and humid day in Lahore while the pitch is even drier than from two days ago, so the team batting first should look at 300 as a bare minimum. The seamers meanwhile might get some joy under lights.

Sri Lanka XI: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Pathum Nissanka, 3 Kusal Mendis (wk), 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 5 Charith Asalanka 6 Dhananjaya de Silva, 7 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 8 Dunith Wellalage, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Kasun Rajitha 11 Matheesha Pathirana

Afghanistan XI: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Najibullah Zadran, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Gulbadin Naib 8 Karim Janat, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque