Sri Lanka name a 15-man squad for the Pakistan Tests with Nissanka subject to fitness

Sri Lanka have named a 15-man squad for next month's two-Test tour of Pakistan, the first picked under new Test captain Kusal Mendis, with Pathum Nissanka included only if he is passed fit

The selectors confirmed the party on Tuesday for a series that opens in Rawalpindi from 9 to 13 November, with the second Test in Lahore from 17 to 21 November.

It is the first squad of the Kusal Mendis era in the longest format. He was handed the Test captaincy last week after Dhananjaya de Silva gave up the job, and the outgoing captain has been retained as a batter.

Nissanka's name is the one carrying a qualification. The opener is in the touring party but must come through a fitness assessment before the first Test, having missed Sri Lanka's tour of India in August with a wrist injury.

A first squad under Kusal Mendis

Mendis already led Sri Lanka's white-ball sides, taking over the ODI side from Charith Asalanka and the T20I side from Dasun Shanaka in May. The Test job makes him captain across all three formats.

His own record gives the appointment its weight: 75 Tests, 4,836 runs, 10 centuries and 23 fifties, accumulated largely while keeping wicket.

De Silva, who had led the Test side since January 2024, told the selection committee in a letter that the time had come to hand over. "It's my genuine opinion that the mantle should go down to the next generation," he wrote.

Nissanka's wrist still under watch

Nissanka is the squad's most significant unknown. His wrist kept him out of the two-match series in India in August, which Sri Lanka lost 1-0, and he has not played a Test since.

The selectors have picked him on the understanding that he will be assessed before the opening match rather than named and risked, which gives Sri Lanka until 9 November to make the call.

His absence would be felt most at the top of the order, where Sri Lanka have been without a settled opening pair for much of the championship cycle.

A maiden call-up and a return

Anjala Bandara receives his first Test call-up, and Eshan Malinga also comes into the squad. Dilshan Madushanka, whose Test career has been interrupted by injury, is recalled to a pace group that already holds Asitha Fernando and Lahiru Kumara.

The experienced core is unchanged. Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis and the left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya all travel, with Sonal Dinusha, Keshara Nuwantha, Milan Rathnayaka and Pasindu Sooriyabandara completing the party.

Udara and Dickwella miss out

The two notable omissions are both batters. Lahiru Udara is left out despite making 188 against West Indies in June, an innings that would have made him an obvious answer at the top of the order had Nissanka been ruled out.

Wicketkeeper-batter Niroshan Dickwella also misses out, with Mendis and Bandara covering the gloves. The selectors gave no reasons for either decision.

Points on offer in the championship

The Tests close out a tour already under way. Both sides meet in the third and final T20I at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, at the ground that will also stage the opening Test three weeks later.

The series sits inside the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle, where both teams need the return. Sri Lanka are seventh in the standings and Pakistan ninth, which makes two Tests between them worth more to each side than the rankings alone suggest.

Pakistan, who have not yet named their squad, have the added incentive of a home surface. Sri Lanka's last Test assignment, in India in August, ended in a 1-0 defeat.

Sri Lanka's squad: Kusal Mendis (capt), Anjala Bandara, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sonal Dinusha, Asitha Fernando, Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka, Eshan Malinga, Kamindu Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Keshara Nuwantha, Milan Rathnayaka, Pasindu Sooriyabandara.

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