Dasun Shanaka will be leading Sri Lanka in the tri-series after Charith Asalanka had to be withdrawn due to illness
Andrew Fidel Fernando17-Nov-2025Big picture: Teams tuning up ahead of World CupTwo-and-a-half months out from the Men’s T20 World Cup, it’s time to get serious. There are squads that need finalising, strategies that need trialing, and players that need tuning into the rhythm and tempo of T20 cricket.For Pakistan, this tri-series series is a chance to build on some T20 advances this year. They have won 17 T20Is to the 12 they’ve lost in 2025. That run includes making it to the final of the Asia Cup, and beating South Africa 2-1 in their most-recent T20I series. Under the leadership of Salman Agha, the batting has had a little more purpose, even if it is the bowling that has tended to win Pakistan games.In that series against South Africa, for example, the bowlers had restricted the visitors to feeble scores twice. Still, the chases were largely smooth, and Pakistan’s two victories were comfortable. The generally-preferred strategy seems to be to put the opposition in, and try to blow them away cheaply.Related
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Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have not been having an especially good time in this format either. Longstanding firepower issues in the batting order persist, although this is less apparent when Pathum Nissanka fires at the top of the order. They are also trying to figure out their combinations – frequently seeming either a bowler or batter short against top opposition.Ahead of a home World Cup, Sri Lanka are desperate to find a working formula. Dasun Shanaka being named acting captain of the side after Charith Asalanka was withdrawn due to illness suggests the selectors want him locked in, in the lower order, at least until the end of the World Cup. And Wanindu Hasaranga’s decent batting form will also help add some depth, provided Hasaranga recovers for the tri-series. Sri Lanka have drafted in legspinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth as cover on the eve of the tournament, but hope Hasaranga recovers to feature in the competition.Zimbabwe haven’t had quite so hot a year. But at least, unlike for the 2024 World Cup, they have bossed the Africa qualifier, and earned themselves a spot in the big show. And it was in that qualifier – played entirely in Harare – that they made their most impressive run of 2025, picking up five successive victories, including in the final against Namibia, who have also qualified for the World Cup.Zimbabwe recently beat Sri Lanka in a T20I•Zimbabwe Cricket
Pakistan and Sri Lanka will likely pose a much sterner challenge than the lower-ranked teams Zimbabwe played in Harare, though, and they are just coming off a 3-0 loss to Afghanistan. They have, however, also beaten Sri Lanka in a T20I recently; Sri Lanka lost the second T20I in a three-match series in Zimbabwe in September.Although the tri-series between Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka was originally scheduled to move to Lahore after two matches in Rawalpindi, security concerns following last week’s bombing in Islamabad has prompted a change. The tournament will be played entirely in Rawalpindi now.Form guidePakistan: WWLLW
Sri Lanka: LLLWW
Zimbabwe: LLLWWIn the spotlight: Babar, Nissanka, and BennettIs Babar Azam back? There have been recent signs he is returning to a fuller version of himself, particularly when, on Friday, he struck his first international ton since 2023 even if that was in ODIs. Having been dropped from the T20I side for most of this year, Babar also struck a match-winning 68 off 47 balls against South Africa in Lahore less than three weeks ago. If he can have a successful tri-series, Pakistan will feel a much more menacing unit.Pathum Nissanka got a T20I hundred against India in September•AFP/Getty Images
Sri Lanka may already be over-reliant on Pathum Nissanka, their most improved white-ball batter of the past three years, and owner of a T20I hundred (against India no less), in September. His first week in Pakistan could have gone better. Nissanka got three starts in the ODIs, but could not even breach 30. On what are expected to be flatter tracks in Rawalpindi, he will likely come good at some point. Sri Lanka’s batting feels like a transformed unit on the days in which Nissanka scores heavily.Zimabwe’s run through the T20 World Cup qualifier had partly been fuelled by the form of their opening batters, and Brian Bennett in particular. Bennett crashed 314 runs at a strike rate of 181.50, making three fifties and a hundred in the space of five innings. At age 22, he has never played in Pakistan, but perhaps the greater challenge will be to counter attacks which will now, given his recent success, have spent much more time analysing his game, and devising plans against him.Pitch and conditionsAs we’re heading into winter, expect cold nights in Rawalpindi, where evening temperatures are forecast to drop into the low teens at times. This generally means fielding errors. The surface is expected to be batting friendly, though there is frequently something for the seamers there.SquadsPakistan made a late change to their squad, releasing Hasan Nawaz and bringing Fakhar Zaman, who was in excellent ODI form, in.Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (capt), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan (wk), Usman TariqFakhar Zaman replaced Hasan Nawaz in Pakistan’s squad•AFP/Getty Images
With Hasaranga’s hamstring tightness a concern, after he sustained a minor hamstring strain in the second ODI against Pakistan, Viyaskanth could get a look-in. Captain Charith Asalanka and Asitha Fernando are returning home due to illness. Top-order batter Pavan Rathnayake has now been brought into the T20I squad. Rathnayake made his international debut in the third ODI of the Pakistan tour.Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (capt.), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Kamil Mishara, Dasun Shanaka (vice-capt), Kamindu Mendis, Pavan Rathnayake, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Janith Liyanage, Wanindu Hasaranaga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushan Hemantha, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Thushara, Eshan MalingaZimbabwe’s one change to the squad that played Afghanistan at home is to add a seamer. The is helpfully named Newman Nyamhuri, who’s a 19-year-old left-arm quick. He’s yet to play an international, and is in the squad because one of their senior bowlers, Blessing Muzarabani, is ruled out with a back injury.Zimbabwe: Sikandar Raza (capt), Brian Bennett, Ryan Burl, Graeme Cremer, Bradley Evans, Clive Madande, Tinotenda Maposa, Wellington Masakadza, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava, Newman Nyamhuri, Brendan TaylorSince October 2022, Zimbabwe and Pakistan have won two games apiece against each other•ICC via Getty Images
Stats and trivia Zimbabwe have played five T20Is in Pakistan – most recently in 2020 – and have lost all five. Zimbabwe have a decent recent record against Pakistan, however. Since October 2022, these teams have faced each other four times and won two apiece. Although he has been playing T20Is only since 2021, Nissanka is Sri Lanka’s second-highest run-scorer in the format, with 2211 runs from 73 innings. Kusal Perera, who sits at the top, and is part of Sri Lanka’s squad for this tri-series, is only 65 runs ahead of Nissanka.