Cricket-Pakistan win toss, bat first in Karachi test

LAHORE (Reuters) – Pakistan captain Azhar Ali won the toss and opted to bat in the second and final test against Sri Lanka at Karachi on Thursday.

The two-match series, part of the World Test Championship, marks Pakistan’s first tests on home soil since the 2009 militant attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore.

The weather-hit opening test at Rawalpindi ended in a draw.

Both sides were forced into changes in the bowling department due to injury and illness.

Experienced leg-spinner Yasir Shah replaced fast bowler Usman Shinwari, who is down with fever, for the hosts.

Sri Lanka included left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya in the side in place of injured fast bowler Kasun Rajitha, who suffered a left hamstring strain in the first test.

Teams

Pakistan – Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Rizwan, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah

Sri Lanka – Dimuth Karunaratne, Oshada Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Dilruwan Perera, Vishwa Fernando, Lasith Embuldeniya, Lahiru Kumara

Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Peter Rutherford