Sri Lanka and Australia will be locking horns in the first Test of their two-match series, scheduled to begin on Wednesday in Galle. Heading into the first Test, Sri Lanka are facing an injury crisis, with some of their experienced players remaining under injury clouds. Players like Pathum Nissanka, skipper Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis are battling their respective injuries but are expected to play.
For Australia too, there are some injury concerns, with skipper Smith Smith nursing an elbow injury suffered while playing for Sydney Sixers in BBL. But, Smith is expected to lead the side. Australia are without their regular skipper Pat Cummins, who is on paternity leave. Australia will have a very different-looking side from the one that faced India in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Most notably, their bowling line-up will be slightly different. Australia have a plethora of players in their bowling department with Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Matthew Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy. Australia are also riding a wave of success after thumping India 3-1 in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Meanwhile, they are also set to send Travis Head at the top of the order to open the innings either with Usman Khawaja or Sam Konstas
Head-to-head
Matches - 33
SL won - 5
AUS won - 20
Head-to-head at Galle
Matches - 6
SL won - 2
AUS won - 3
Tied - 1
Sri Lanka probable XI: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Matthews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kusal Mendis (wk), Nishan Peiris, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara
Australia probable XI: Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Nathan McSweeney, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland