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SportsCricket

Kusal Mendis to lead Sri Lanka in Pakistan, Nissanka picked pending fitness

Dilshan Madushanka is recalled and Lahiru Udara left out of the 15-man squad for two Tests in Rawalpindi and Lahore in November.

From the editorial desk · ColomboPublished
Kusal Mendis batting (file photo)
Kusal Mendis batting (file photo)Neb / Wikimedia

Key points

  1. New Test captain Kusal Mendis leads a 15-man Sri Lanka squad for Pakistan.
  2. Pathum Nissanka is included but must prove his fitness after a wrist injury.
  3. The Tests are in Rawalpindi from 9 November and Lahore from 17 November.

Kusal Mendis will lead Sri Lanka in a two-Test series in Pakistan next month, his first series since being named the side’s new Test captain earlier in October. Sri Lanka’s selectors announced a 15-man squad on Tuesday.

Opener Pathum Nissanka is in the touring party, but only on condition that he returns to full fitness before the first Test. He is recovering from a wrist injury that kept him out of Sri Lanka’s tour of India in August.

Left-arm seamer Dilshan Madushanka returns to the Test squad, and Eshan Malinga and Anjala Bandara have been called up. There is no place for Lahiru Udara, who made 188 against West Indies in June, or for wicketkeeper-batter Niroshan Dickwella.

The first Test is in Rawalpindi from 9 to 13 November and the second in Lahore from 17 to 21 November. Both teams have ground to make up in the World Test Championship, where Sri Lanka are seventh with one win in six Tests and Pakistan are ninth and last. Pakistan have won two of their nine Tests in this cycle, so a home series is a chance to climb the table.

Squad: Kusal Mendis (captain), Anjala Bandara, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sonal Dinusha, Asitha Fernando, Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka, Eshan Malinga, Kamindu Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Keshara Nuwantha, Milan Rathnayaka, Pasindu Sooriyabandara.

The documents