Pakistan Bowl, Faheem Ashraf handed Debut

Pakistan chose to bowl against Sri Lanka

Pakistan won the toss and decided to bowl. Under overcast conditions in Cardiff, both captains confirmed they would have preferred to chase, potentially giving Pakistan the slight edge before the game begins. Pakistan made one change from the team that beat South Africa in their previous game, with fast-bowling all rounder Faheem Ashraf coming in, replacing spinner Shadab Khan. Sri Lanka were forced to bring in Dhananjaya de Silva for the injured Kusal Perera. Sri Lanka also went in with four pacers, providing evidence of how both sides felt the pitch is going to behave.

The game is a virtual quarter-final, with the winner going through to face England in the semi-final, although a massive win for either side could see them meet Bangladesh instead. For that, they will need to top the group by trumping India’s net run rate. Complex calculations aside, each side needs to win by approximately 300 runs to achieve that, so that will probably be no more than a mental footnote.

Sri Lanka: 1 N Dickwella, 2 MD Gunathilaka, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Dinesh Chandimal, 6 Asela Gunaratne, 7 Dhananjaya de Silva, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Nuwan Pradeep

Pakistan: 1 Azhar Ali, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Hafeez, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed, 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Fahim Ashraf, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Hasan Ali, 11 Junaid Khan

Courtesy : espncricinfo