Sri Lanka chose to bowl vs Zimbabwe
Sri Lanka have won the toss and opted to bowl first in the first T20I against Zimbabwe in Colombo.
For the hosts, Kusal Perera returns to the side, likely at the top of the order. Pathum Nissanka, who missed the ODIs with dengue, is back in, opening the batting.
On the bowling front, Nuwan Thushara gets a spot in the XI over Matheesha Pathirana, a faster round-arm bowler. With Angelo Mathews and Dasun Shanaka also both in the side – Mathews playing his first T20I in almost three years – Sri Lanka have plenty of seam-bowling cover in the XI.
Zimbabwe, meanwhile, have batter Sean Williams back in their side, after he had missed the ODIs with injury. They’ve also brought in 20-year-old allrounder Brian Bennett, who is playing his fourth international.
The weather appeared fine at the time of the toss. There were no serious signs of rain.
Sri Lanka XI: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Perera, 3 Kusal Mendis (wk), 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Dasun Shanaka, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga (capt.), 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Nuwan Thushara
Zimbabwe XI: 1 Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, 2 Brian Bennett, 3 Sean Williams, 4 Craig Ervine, 5 Sikandar Raza (capt.), 6 Ryan Burl, 7 Clive Madande (wk), 8 Luke Jongwe, 9 Wellington Masakadza, 10 Richard Ngarava, 11 Blessing Muzarabani
This article was originally published by Espncricinfo.com. Read the original article here.