There will be competition with Pakistan zimbabwe In the fifth match of the T20I tri-series. This article provides details about the playing 11 of Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe for the fifth match of the series.
Sri Lanka Playing XI vs Zimbabwe-Pakistan T20I Tri Series 2025, Match 5:
Openers: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk),
Former T20 World Cup winners Sri Lanka desperately need a win to keep alive their hopes of winning the T20 tri-series in Pakistan, having lost both the matches they have played so far.
The Dasun Shanaka-led side will face Zimbabwe in a do-or-die encounter at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium and will look to outperform them to open their account.
Not only this, Sri Lanka will have to win by a big margin to get their net run rate back on track, which has been heavily affected in the first two matches.
For this to happen, they will have to rely on the batsmen to perform well, as the failure of the batting department has been a major reason for Sri Lanka’s poor performances when batting first and while chasing the target.
Opening pair Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis will be entrusted with the responsibility of getting the team off to a good start and providing a platform for the middle-order batsmen to take advantage.
Middle-order batsmen and all-rounders: Kamil Mishara, Kusal Perera, Dasun Shanaka (captain), Zenith Liyange, Kamindu Mendis, Wanindu Hasaranga.
To increase the chances of winning the game, apart from the openers, the middle order batsmen will also have to perform well for Sri Lanka.
Although the Lankan Lions have inexperience in the middle order with players like Kamil Mishara, Zenith Liyanage and Kamindu Mendis, all these batsmen who are a few games old at the international level have the ability to win games for the team.
Apart from youth, the Lankan middle-order also has the experience of Kusal Perera and stand-in captain Dasun Shanaka, who will play a vital role in helping the team put pressure on the opposition bowlers.
Despite having depth in the batting lineup, Sri Lanka will need to score most of the runs for the team by the top five batsmen to win the game.
Bowlers: Dushmantha Chameera, Ishan Malinga, Vijaykant Vyaskanth
If we talk about Lanka’s bowling performance in the first two matches, they had made a good start to the series by restricting the opposition team to 162 runs while bowling first and they did not have enough runs to play against Pakistan.
Despite consecutive defeats, credit must be given to the Sri Lankan bowlers as they have done what they can and want the batsmen to come to the party in the upcoming game.
However, there are still some areas in which they would like to improve, one of them being the fast bowling department.
Dushmantha Chamera has done his job as the senior fast bowler, but he lacks support from the other end, and it is up to Ishan Malinga, who played the last game, to step up and deliver a strong performance.
In the spin bowling department, veteran spinner Wanindu Hasaranga’s lack of wickets has been a matter of concern for the team, and they would like him to be back among the wickets.
Vijayakanth Vyaskanth, the new kid on the block and the second spinner in the team, was impressive in the last match but like Hasaranga, he too failed to take wickets, which he will look to get rid of in the next match.
