Pallekele, July 2
Pakistan and Sri Lanka will ring in several changes, most of them forced on them, in a bid to win the decisive third and final Test starting tomorrow.
Both sides are pulling out all the stops to break the 1-1 deadlock after Pakistan won the first Test by 10 wickets and Sri Lanka responded with a seven-wicket victory in the second. Sri Lanka will take the field without their batting greats, the retired Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, who had committed himself to playing just two Tests against Pakistan and two more against India in August before retiring.
Sangakkara will be replaced at his pivotal No. 3 position by another left-hander, Upul Tharanga, 30, who played the last of his 19 Tests a year ago. — AFP