Basking in the glory of their first Test win in Galle against Sri Lanka, Pakistan will move out on Sunday for the second and final cricket Test buoyant with confidence after chasing down a highest of 342 to win a match at the venue which is often considered a nightmare for teams batting last.
Pakistan’s only worry will be the knee injury blow on fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi who could be replaced by Haris Rauf in the second Test.
But a plus point in Pakistan’s team will be the presence of Abdullah Shafique who made an unbeaten 160 in pursuit of the target that they reached by losing six wickets.
To beat Pakistan in the second Test and square the series Sri Lanka will need to lift their game to a higher level to bowl out Pakistan twice as well as making a big first innings total.
Sri Lanka could be looking at some changes in both the batting and bowling with Niroshan Dickwella unable to make any contribution with the bat with scores of 4 and 12 in both innings of the first Test.
As cover Sri Lanka have brought in opener Pathum Nissanka into the side and left out off spinner Maheesh Theekshana who plucked just two wickets from 39.5 overs in the entire first Test while also bowling with an injury his finger.
Should Dickwella be left out, the wicket-keeping duties will have be done by either the in-form batter Dinesh Chandimal or Kusal Mendis.
Another player Sri Lanka have brought into the side is the 22-year old uncapped off spinner Lakshitha Manasinghe who has taken 77 wickets from 17 First Class matches that included 13 scalps in the recent home series against Australia A.