Pakistan's test tour of Sri Lanka schedule announced

Pakistan will play their first test against Sri Lanka in Galle starting from 16th July.

Pakistan will be commencing their World Test Championship 2023-25 campaign with a two-test tour of Sri Lanka. Pakistan will be touring Sri Lanka next month in July and play two tests in Galle and SCC Colombo. The first test match will begin on 16th July in Galle and the second test will be played in Singhalese Sports Club in Colombo from 24th to 28th July. Pakistan will also be playing a two-day practice game before commencement their WTC 2023-25 cycle from the 11th to the 12th of July in Galle. Sri Lanka are busy playing in the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe to secure their place in the World Cup 2023 in India, while Pakistan will enter fresh into the tour of Sri Lanka. 

Pakistan have announced their squad for the tour with Babar Azam as captain of the Pakistan team. Pakistan’s ace pace bowler Shaheen Afridi will also return after a long break from cricket’s longest format. Shaheen played his last test match at the same venue where he will mark his return on the same day and against the same opposition. He played his last test against Sri Lanka in Galle on 16-20 July 2022. Mohammed Rizwan will be deputing Babar Azam and Sarfaraz Ahmed is in the team as second wicketkeeper. Noman Ali and Salman Agha Ali will be taking responsibility for the spin attack. 

Pakistan squad for Sri Lanka tests:

Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc & wk), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Abdullah Shafique, Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah,Aamir Jamal, Noman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Huraira, and Shan Masood

In the last Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka, both teams won 1 game each. Pakistan chased down 342 runs in Galle against Sri Lanka in their last tour. Sri Lanka bounced back nicely in the series as they won the second by a huge margin of 246 runs at the same venue. Sri Lanka will be announcing their squad soon, as they have not picked their side to take on Pakistan. Most probably, after the first round of World Cup qualifiers, they will sit to pick their team for the Pakistan series next month.