Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first, owing to a preference to bowl last on what is expected to become a spin-friendly surface. Mushfiqur Rahim said he would have batted first as well. Due to a light covering of grass on this surface – which is not often seen at Galle – the pitch is expected to hold together for longer than previous tracks at this venue.
Unusually, the hosts opted for a five-man frontline attack and fielded only six batsmen. Dhananjaya de Silva sat out, effectively yielding his position to left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan. With Dilruwan Perera and Rangana Herath also in the XI, Sri Lanka had three specialist spin bowlers, in addition to the seam bowling of Suranga Lakmal and Lahiru Kumara.
Bangladesh, meanwhile, made three changes to the side that played in Hyderabad last month. Mustafizur Rahman returned from injury, displacing Taijul Islam. Liton Das’ return to the squad as wicketkeeper-batsman forced Sabbir Rahman out, while Subashis Roy took the place of Kamrul Islam Rabbi.
The weather is expected to remain good for the opening day, but showers may interrupt play towards the end of the week.
Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Asela Gunaratne, 6 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 7 Dilruwan Perera, 8 Rangana Herath (capt.), 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Lakshan Sandakan, 11 Lahiru Kumara
Bangladesh:1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Mominul Haque, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (capt), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Liton Das (wk), 8 Mehedi Hasan, 9 Subashis Roy, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Taskin Ahmed
