Afridi out with illness, Agha-led Pakistan field against Sri Lanka

Abrar Ahmed and Mohammad Wasim slot into Pakistan's XI, while Pramod Madushan bolsters Sri Lanka's bowling attack

Andrew Fidel Fernando

14-Nov-2025 • 1 hr ago

Salman Agha, Pakistan's stand-in captain in the absence of Shaheen Afridi, won the toss and chose to field first in the second ODI against Sri Lanka, in Rawalpindi.

Afridi is out due to illness, and is joined on the bench by Faheem Ashraf, whom Agha described as having been "rested". Two bowlers come into Pakistan's XI to replace them: legspinner Abrar Ahmed is in the side, as is seam bowler Mohammad Wasim.

Sri Lanka have made a change to their attack too, dropping the struggling Maheesh Theekshana to beef up their seam attack through Pramod Madushan. This marks the only change to their XI, on a track that appears to be more bowler-friendly than the surface on which both teams surpassed 290 during the first ODI.

This match had been postponed by a day because of security concerns triggered by a suicide bomb in Islamabad on Tuesday. Security has been tightened to reassure the Sri Lanka players that Pakistan remained safe for cricket.

Sri Lanka: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kamil Mishara, 3 Kusal Mendis (wk), 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 5 Charith Asalanka (capt), 6 Janith Liyanage, 7 Kamindu Mendis, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Pramod Madushan, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Asitha Fernando

Pakistan: 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Salman Agha, 6 Hussain Talat, 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Mohammad Wasim Jr., 9 Haris Rauf, 10 Naseem Shah, 11 Abrar Ahmed

Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf

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