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Sri Lanka chose to bat in their home season opener, the first of two Twenty20 Internationals against Pakistan, in Hambantota.
Sri Lanka went in with the experienced names in the batting line-up, but gave caps to two spinners, Kaushal Lokuarachchi and Sachitra Senanayake.
Shakeel Ansar was handed a debut by Pakistan.The wicketkeeper Ansar, at close to 34, was one of the older debutants for Pakistan. That allowed Umar Akmal to play as a specialist batsman and not double up as a wicketkeeper. Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Sami made a comeback to international cricket.
Sri Lanka 1 Lahiru Thirimanne, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Mahela Jayawardene (capt.), 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Dinesh Chandimal, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Kaushal Lokuarachchi, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Sachitra Senanayake.
Pakistan 1 Mohammad Hafeez (capt.), 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Umar Akmal, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Khalid Latif, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Shakeel Ansar (wk), 8 Sohail Tanvir, 9 Mohammad Sami, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Saeed Ajmal.
Sri Lanka went in with the experienced names in the batting line-up, but gave caps to two spinners, Kaushal Lokuarachchi and Sachitra Senanayake.
Shakeel Ansar was handed a debut by Pakistan.The wicketkeeper Ansar, at close to 34, was one of the older debutants for Pakistan. That allowed Umar Akmal to play as a specialist batsman and not double up as a wicketkeeper. Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Sami made a comeback to international cricket.
Sri Lanka 1 Lahiru Thirimanne, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Mahela Jayawardene (capt.), 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Dinesh Chandimal, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Kaushal Lokuarachchi, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Sachitra Senanayake.
Pakistan 1 Mohammad Hafeez (capt.), 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Umar Akmal, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Khalid Latif, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Shakeel Ansar (wk), 8 Sohail Tanvir, 9 Mohammad Sami, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Saeed Ajmal.