Pakistan captain Babar Azam will surely be flying high. The ODI and T20 world number 1 managed to breach Fortress Galle and lead his side to a win in the first Test against Sri Lanka. Azam also scored a century in the fixture.
Pakistan became the first team to chase down a 300-plus target in the fourth innings at Galle. The team would want to repeat their success when they clash with the hosts for the second time at the same venue on Sunday, 24 July.
Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam’s heroics with the bat guided the visitors to their historic win. The rain gods played spoilsport for a while as the Test went down to the wire. But nothing could stand in the way of Pakistan’s victory. Shafique's unbeaten 160 helped him bag the player of the match award.
As the action is set to take place in Galle again, Sri Lanka will be keen to reclaim their bastion and register another victory. Of the 40 Tests played at the Galle International Stadium, the hosts have won 22.
The ground is also great for spinners. The game could ultimately depend on which team bowls better. While Prabath Jayasuriya is favourite to collect another five-for in the upcoming encounter, it could all be for naught if he does not get proper support from the rest of the bowlers, like what happened on the final day of the first Test.
Galle weather report:
The weather at Galle will be humid and partly cloudy on match day. The temperatures will range from 26 to 30 degrees Celsius. Wind speed will be between 15 and 25 kmph. There are slight chances of rain.
Possible Playing XIs:
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Dinesh Chandimal, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Lakshitha Manasinghe, Oshada Fernando, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya , Kasun Rajitha
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam(c) , Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan(wk), Agha Salman, Faheem Ashraf, Yasir Shah, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Nawaz
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