Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, 1st T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Toss - Pakistan opt to bowl

No surprises there! It's always best to chase in T20 cricket. Pakistan have Ahmed Shehzad back in their playing XI. Sri Lanka as expected, have a lot of inexperienced players in their XI.

Teams:

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Dilshan Munaweera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Ashan Priyanjan, Mahela Udawatte, Sadeera Samarawickrama(w), Dasun Shanaka, Sachith Pathirana, Thisara Perera(c), Seekkuge Prasanna, Isuru Udana, Vikum Sanjaya

Pakistan (Playing XI): Ahmed Shehzad, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfraz Ahmed(w/c), Imad Wasim, Fahim Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Usman Khan

Build up

Build up

It's been quite an interesting tour so far with both Pakistan and Sri Lanka getting blanked once in surprising circumstances. Pakistan were not expected to lose both the Tests at their adopted home and once Sri Lanka managed to reverse their fortunes by clinching the Test series, the island nation were expected to put up a good show in the ODIs as well. But unfortunately, their limited-overs form never picked up as they went on to lose 5-0 for the third time this year.

They will now be looking for some respite in these two T20Is but the task only gets harder here. Pakistan are at full strength but the Sri Lankans have many first-choice players unavailable for this series. With some of the top players refusing to visit Lahore for the final T20I, the selectors picked an inexperienced outfit for this series with Thisara Perera given the responsibility to lead them.

Without a doubt, it is going to be a herculean task for the allrounder to pull his side up in order to come out on top. Welcome to the live blog for this first T20I in Abu Dhabi. Tweet in your opinions to @Narbavi and have them featured on the blog.