Toss Sri Lanka opt to bowl vs Pakistan
Sri Lanka won a third straight toss on tour and opted to bowl first in the third T20I against Pakistan. The visitors are seeking a consolation win, with the three-match series already secured by Pakistan courtesy of their comprehensive wins in the opening two games.
Sri Lanka have not won a bilateral T20I series since September 2025, and have lost 16 of 23 T20Is since the start of the year, winning just six. It is in that context that they have been outplayed by Pakistan across the first two games, and captain Kusal Mendis acknowledged that his side needed to improve across all three facets of the game in order to compete. His counterpart, a jovial Sahibzada Farhan, meanwhile, had more pleasant problems to deal with as he pencilled in a more testing run for his middle order.
Both sides made changes, with Pakistan in particular wringing in the changes to test their bench strength. Razaullah, Arafat Minhas, Sufyan Moqim and Abdul Samad and all make their way into the XI, with Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed, Shadab Khan and Saim Ayub making way. Sri Lanka have made the solitary change as legspinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth comes in for Maheesh Theekshana.
The pitch is expected to be yet another one suited for batting, with Sri Lanka no doubt targeting a total around the 200 mark.
Pakistan: 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Sahibzada Farhan (capt), 3 Maaz Sadaqat, 4 Hasan Nawaz, 5 Abdul Samad, 6 Khawaja Nafay (wk), 7 Arafat Minhas, 8 Mohammad Imran, 9 Razaullah, 10 Salman Mirza, 11 Sufyan Moqim
Sri Lanka: 1 Lahiru Udara, 2 Sineth Jayawardena, 3 Kusal Mendis (capt, wk), 4 Kamindu Mendis, 5 Sahan Arachige, 6 Dasun Shanaka, 7 Chamindu Wickramasinghe, 8 Vijaykanth Viyaskanth, 9 Eshan Malinga, 10 Binura Fernando, 11 Nuwan Thushara