Sri Lanka Opt To Bat In Second Test Against New Zealand

Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat in the second Test against New Zealand in Galle on Thursday.

It was the sixth straight toss that Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva has won.

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Sri Lanka made two changes to the side that won the first Test by 63 runs, bringing in off-spinner Nishan Peiris and all-rounder Milan Rathnayake in place of Ramesh Mendis and fast bowler Lahiru Kumara.

It was a bold move by Sri Lanka as Ramesh had claimed six wickets in the first Test with his off-spin.

Peiris has been knocking on the doors with good performances in domestic cricket and for Sri Lanka A who recently won a series in South Africa.

It looks a flat wicket and we need to bat and put on a big total, said Dhananjaya.

We have some concerns with our lower order batting and hence we brought in Milan Rathnayake. Obviously it is a big day for Nishan Peiris making his debut..

New Zealand opted for an unchanged side as they try to level the series.

You come to this part of the world and you would like to bat first as it gets tough as the game moves on, said captain Tim Southee.

But we saw we gave ourselves a chance in the last Test batting last here so we know we are capable of doing it again.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), Kusal Mendis, Milan Rathnayake, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Nishan Peiris.

New Zealand: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Glenn Phillips, Tim Southee (capt), Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel, William O#39;Rourke

Umpires: Michael Gough (ENG) and Nitin Menon (IND)

TV umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)

Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND