Sri Lanka Playing 11 vs Afghanistan – Only Test, 2024

Sri Lanka takes on Afghanistan in a one-off Test match from February 2-6. The match will be played at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo. This Test match is not a part of the WTC 2023-25 cycle.

Sri Lanka will be led by Dhananjaya de Silva. The Sri Lankan Cricket Board decided to change captaincy across formats after their forgetful World Cup. De Silva was named the test captain, Kusal Mendis the ODI captain, and the Wanindu Hasaranga T20I skipper.

Sri Lanka are placed last on the WTC points table. They lost their last Test series 2-0 against Pakistan in July 2023. This Test match is not a part of the WTC cycle as said earlier and hence it gives the second-string players a chance to make some impact when they get their chance.

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Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne are all part of the Lankan Test side. All three are former captains and thus it will be interesting to see how Dhananjaya handles them together. In this article, we predict Sri Lanka’s playing XI against Afghanistan for the one-off Test match. This is their very first Test match against the Afghans.

Sri Lanka Playing 11 vs Afghanistan – Only Test, 2024

Dimuth Karunaratne

The former Test skipper will open the batting. He is a veteran of 88 Test matches and has scored nearly 7000 runs in the format. This will be his 89th Test match.

Kusal Mendis

Mensia the ODI skipper can open with Karunaratne. He did open in many of the matches of the World Cup and the Asia Cup last year and can adjust accordingly. He has played 60 Test matches and is approaching 4000 Test runs.

Dhananjaya de Silva (C)

The captain can slot in at three. He has played 51 Test matches and approaching close to 4000 Tesy runs. This is his first Test as captain and a Test for him nonetheless.

Sadeera Samarawickrama

Sadeera can slot in at four. He bats at four in white-ball cricket and should adjust to that number in the longest format. He bats well alongside Mendis. He is a backup wicketkeeper and has played just 8 Test matches in his career so far.

Dinesh Chandimal (WK)

Chandimal will slot in at five. He will be the specialist keeper in the XI. He has played 76 Test matches and scored close to 6000 Test runs. He played his last Test match against Pakistan at this very ground in July 2023.

Angelo Mathews

Mathews is the most capped Test player of this squad. he has played 106 Test matches and scored close to 8000 Test runs. He too played his last Test match against Pakistan in July last year.

Ramesh Mendis

Mendis can be the bowling all-rounder at seven. He has played 14 Test matches and picked 63 2ickets scoring over 300 runs with the ball as well. He will give the side an extra bowling option.

Kasun Rajitha

Rajitha will lead the Lankan bowling attack. He is the most experienced of all the bowlers. He recently played in the World Cup and led the bowling attack as well

Vishwa Fernando

The left-arm pacer will pair up with Rajitha from the other end. He has picked up 50 wickets from 20 Test matches and played his last Test against Pakistan as well.

Asitha Fernando

Asitha Fernando will be the third seamer in the XI. He is a right-arm pacer with deceptive pace and bowls the hard length. He has played 12 Test matches and picked up 35 wickets.

Prabhat Jayasuriya

Jayasuriya concludes the likely XI for Sri Lanka against Afghanistan. He has played nine Test matches and has taken 59 wickets. He is a specialist left-arm spinner.

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