Who will win Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, 1st T20?
After beating Sri Lanka 2-0 in the ODI series, Pakistan will now have their eyes locked on the T20 trophy. The three-match series will kick-off with the first T20 international on October 5 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Live telecast of the match is scheduled to begin at 6:30 PM local time.
Sri Lanka were outplayed in both the games of the ODI series and they were clearly missing the experience of their senior members who had pulled out of this tour. The hosts were brilliant with the bat on both occasions and they will be hoping for their batsmen to replicate that form in the 20-over format. This will be the first T20I at the Gaddafi Stadium since October 2017 and Pakistan will want to make it a memorable one. Will the men in green continue their winning run or can the men in blue regroup and turn their fortunes around?
PAK vs SL, 1st T20:Where to watch/Live streaming
TV channels: Sony Six, Ten Sports, BT Sport, SuperSport, Fox Sports, OSN Sports Cricket HD, Gazi TV, PTV Sports
Live Streaming: Bet365, SonyLIV, Now TV, Sky Go
PAK vs SL Toss Prediction
Three of the last four T20 internationals played at the Gaddafi Stadium have been won by the side batting first. Since the pitch at this ground tends to offer more help to the bowlers during the second period of play, the team that wins the toss here is more likely to bat first.
PAK vs SL Weather Report
Clear skies have been forecast for Saturday evening. The weather is likely to be pretty cool with temperature around 26 and 28 degrees Celsius. Humidity is expected to be between 64% and 71% during the match.
PAK vs SL Pitch Condition
The average first-innings score at the Gaddafi Stadium in T20 internationals is 180 which goes to show how good the pitch has been for batting. So one can expect a high-scoring encounter here between Pakistan and Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Read on for team previews, betting tips, latest odds and match prediction for Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, 1st T20...
Pakistan Team News & Playing 11
PAK Team News
Pakistan have retained 13 players from their ODI squad for this three-match T20I series. Imam-ul-Haq, Abid Ali and Mohammad Rizwan are the ones to have been dropped and they have been replaced with Umar Akmal, Faheem Ashraf and Ahmed Shehzad. While Umar Akmal has not played a T20I for Pakistan since 2016, Ahmed Shehzad last featured in an international game in June 2018. Sarfaraz Ahmed is in charge of the team's 16-man T20I squad.
PAK Key Players
Babar Azam: He is currently the number one batsman in the world in T20 cricket. The opener cracked a ton in the second match of the preceding ODI series and a half-century against England in a T20I at Cardiff in May. Babar will be Pakistan's biggest hope with the bat.
Fakhar Zaman: The left-handed opening batsman will be expected to take Pakistan off to a flying start. He is seventh in the ICC T20I rankings for batsmen. Fakhar is coming off a fantastic ODI series in which he struck a half-century in both the matches.
Imad Wasim: He is another key man in this Pakistani line-up due to his all-round abilities. Imad is the world's second-best bowler in the format and is among the team's leading wicket-takers with 39 wickets in 35 T20Is at a pretty good economy of 5.86. He is also a handy batsman down the order.
PAK Recent Form
Pakistan found lots of success in the T20 format last year having won 17 out of their 19 matches. This year, however, they have three losses from the four matches they have played so far. They have faced defeats in their previous two T20I series - against the Proteas in South Africa and most recently in the one-off match against England at Cardiff. Prior to that, Pakistan had won eleven T20I series on the bounce.
Pakistan Predicted Playing 11
Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Ahmed Shehzad, Haris Sohail, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c/wk), Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain
Sri Lanka Team News & Playing 11
SL Team News
All-rounder Dasun Shanaka will be leading Sri Lanka's 16-man squad for this upcoming T20 international series against Pakistan. A total of ten players had opted to withdraw from this tour including Thisara Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Suranga Lakmal, Angelo Mathews and regular T20 captain Lasith Malinga. The visitors have included three fresh faces in the squad - Oshada Fernando, Minod Bhanuka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa. Batsman Oshada Fernando is in line to make his T20I debut on Saturday and could be slotted at the top of the order.
SL Key Players
Danushka Gunathilaka: He has been doing fairly well with the bat and Sri Lanka will expect this left-handed opening batsman to make a sizeable contribution on Saturday. Gunathilaka has scored 340 runs in his 16 T20I innings and he scored 133 off 134 balls in the third ODI just two days back.
Dasun Shanaka: Sri Lanka's middle-order batting will depend mostly on him. Shanaka had a very good ODI series with the bat, scoring 68 and 43 in the respective matches. He will also have a role to play with the ball as well.
Nuwan Pradeep: The fast bowler is one of the main threats in the bowling department. He will be leading Sri Lanka's pace attack and the onus will be on him to provide the breakthroughs in the powerplay. Pradeep took a couple of wickets in the third ODI last time out and will look to deliver another good performance.
SL Recent Form
Sri Lanka are struggling big time in the game's twenty-over format. They have lost nine of their last twelve T20 internationals and have been able to win just one out of the seven they have played this year. The Lankans have lost each of their previous four T20I series - against England, South Africa and twice against New Zealand. Sri Lanka played their most recent series last month against the Kiwis at home and lost 1-2.
Sri Lanka Predicted Playing 11
Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Shehan Jayasuriya, Oshada Fernando, Dasun Shanaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), Isuru Udana, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Head to Head
Pakistan have won 13 while Sri Lanka have won only 5 out of the 18 matches that have been played between these two countries in the shortest format of the game.
Pakistan have won seven of their last eight T20 internationals against Sri Lanka including the most recently played six.
The two teams have faced each other just once at the Gaddafi Stadium in the twenty-over format. The game was played in October 2017 with Pakistan registering a convincing 36-run victory.
PAK vs SL Head to Head Stats
| Matches Played |
PAK Won |
SL Won |
Tie |
No Result |
| 18 |
13 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Betting Odds
Pakistan are coming on the back of a series victory and they begin as the bookmakers favorites to win this first T20 international at 1.28 with Betway, 1.25 with Bet365 and 1.24 with 10CRIC.. Sri Lanka have been underwhelming in the T20 format and so it isn't surprising to see them as outsiders for this match. The visitors have been priced at 3.50 on Betway, 4 on Bet365 and 3.40 on 10CRIC.
🏆 Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Prediction
Sri Lanka have not had much success of late in the game's twenty-over format and having been swept in the ODI series will not do their confidence much good. There is plenty of inexperience in their side and they seem heavily reliant on just three or four players. Pakistan, on the other hand, have the momentum with them in addition to the home advantage. Their T20I record at the Gaddafi Stadium is also very impressive having won five out of their six matches here. The hosts have the upper hand in terms of their superior head-to-head record and we expect them to start this series off with a win.
Oct 05, 2019
19:00 IST / 13:30 GMT
Gaddafi Stadium - Lahore, Pakistan
PAK vs SL T20 
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