Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and decided to bat first against New Zealand in Galle on Wednesday (September 18), in the first Test of their two-match series. (Match Blog | Streaming | Scorecard)
Playing XIs
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), Kusal Mendis (wk), Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando.
New Zealand: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee (capt), Will O'Rourke.
Sri Lanka are coming into this match on the back of a famous eight-wicket win over England in the latter's backyard.
New Zealand, on the other hand, could not get any game time in the controversially abandoned one-off Test against Afghanistan at Greater Noida, where not even a ball could be bowled over the course of five days.
New Zealand are visiting Sri Lanka after a five-year gap and will expect spin-friendly conditions in Galle. Legendary left-armer Rangana Herath has joined the Kiwis as their spin-bowling coach.
