Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and opted to bat first in the first Test of the two-match series at Galle International Stadium on Wednesday.

Tim Southee is leading the Kiwis, whereas the hosts are playing under the leadership of Dhananjaya de Silva. 

After getting the better of England in the last red-ball match played at The Oval, Sri Lanka would like to come up with a big show against Kiwis in front of home fans and keep itself alive in the race to qualify for the World Test Championship final.

New Zealand have had a torrid time since their arrival in the subcontinent with their One-off Test against Afghanistan getting washed off without a single ball being bowled and they now have to somehow win at least one game at Galle, where they have never won to keep their WTC hopes alive. 

Sri Lanka on the other hand will be in a much more positive mood with that uplifting Test match win against England away from home at the Oval and even though they lost that series, they will be looking to build a fortress at home as they took have an outside chance of making it to the WTC final.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka have locked horns on 38 previous occasions in Test cricket and the Black Caps have won 18 of them. However, in Sri Lanka, the hosts lead 7-5 to New Zealand and that is what the visitors have to focus on

TEAMS:

Sri Lanka Playing XI: Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis(w), Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva(c), Kamindu Mendis, Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando

New Zealand playing XI: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell(w), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee(c), Ajaz Patel, William O’Rourke

--Agencies