Sri Lanka bat; Pakistan give Haris Sohail a debut

Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat v Pakistan
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat on an Abu Dhabi surface they expected to be full of runs, and unusually, also picked five specialist bowlers.

Meanwhile, in their first Test under Sarfraz Ahmed, Pakistan fielded three specialist quicks in Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, and Mohammad Abbas, and only one spinner: Yasir Shah. Haris Sohail made his debut, while Sami Aslam was the other batsman to enter the XI, Misbah-Ul-Haq and Younis Khan now having retired.

Sri Lanka recently warmed to the idea of playing five bowlers in their Test XI, but this was nevertheless a bold strategy in an away Test. Lakshan Sandakan - the left-arm wristspinner - was picked for his first Test abroad, alongside the more experienced Dilruwan Perera and Rangana Herath. Seamers Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal rounded out the attack.

The visitors passed up the chance to field a debutant - Roshen Silva and Sadeera Samarawickrama were left out of the XI. Instead, Kaushal Silva and Lahiru Thirimanne returned to the side. Silva had been dropped after the South Africa series earlier in the year. Thirimanne was playing his first Test since June last year.

Pakistan 1 Shan Masood, 2 Sami Aslam, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Babar Azam, 6 Haris Sohail, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 8 Mohammad Amir, 9 Yasir Shah, 10 Mohammad Abbas, 11 Hasan Ali

Sri Lanka 1 Kaushal Silva, 2 Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (capt), 5 Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 7 Dilruwan Perera, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Lakshan Sandakan, 11 Nuwan Pradeep