Sri Lanka bats first against Pakistan

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against Pakistan at the National Stadium today. See Full Coverage

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against Pakistan at the National Stadium on Saturday.

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Pakistan - playing its first test for 14 months - awarded test debuts to 22-year-old opening batsman Khurram Manzoor and 24-year-old fast bowler Sohail Khan.

Sri Lanka gave a first cap to left-handed opening batsman Tharanga Paranavitana, 26.

Sri Lanka has lost all its previous four test matches at the National Stadium and is looking to give a winning farewell to Jayawardene, who will quit the captaincy after this two test series. Pakistan also retained middle-order batsman Faisal Iqbal and all-rounder Yasir Arafat, who both performed well in the most recent test against India in Dec. 2007.

Teams:

Pakistan: Younis Khan (captain), Salman Butt, Khurram Manzoor, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Sohail Khan.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Malinda Warnapura, Tharanga Paranavitana, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando.

Umpires: Simon Taufel, Australia, and Steve Davis, Australia. TV Umpires: Zameer Haider, Pakistan. Match referee: Chris Broad, England.