Pakistan captain Azhar Ali won the toss and elected to field first against Sri Lanka in Dambulla on early Saturday.

Sri Lanka has handed a debut to left arm spinning allrounder Milinda Siriwardana while giant fast bowler Mohammed Irfan returns for Pakistan after an injury lay-off.

With ICC Champions Trophy qualification at stake, Azhar is confident that the side can win the series against Sri Lanka. However, he conceded that the new rules will be a challenge for him as well as Sri Lankan counterpart Angelo Mathews.

“The new playing conditions will certainly be a challenge for both captains in the first two matches because everyone will take time to get used to them,” Azhar told The Express Tribune.

The new ICC rules have given fielding relaxation to the captain and will support the bowlers as it is no longer mandatory to keep two catching fielders in the first 10 overs, while five fielders can be outside the circle in the last 10 overs instead of four.

Satisfied with the team’s performance in the Test series, Azhar feels the morale is very high, adding that the team believes they “can do well in ODIs too despite some new faces.”

With 93 points, Bangladesh currently sit pretty in seventh position on the ICC ODI Team Rankings and need just one win to retain their pre-series points. However, a failure to win any of the matches will result in them dropping to 90 points.

Ninth-ranked Pakistan are on 87 points and will move ahead of the West Indies (88 points) by a fraction of a point if they win the series 3-2. Pakistan can rise to as high as 94 points if they whitewash Sri Lanka, while they will get to 92 with a 4-1 series win. However, if the men in green are whitewashed, then they will drop down to 84 points.

“The plan is to play attacking cricket and not worry about the Champions Trophy qualification as we don’t want to take pressure early on,” said Azhar. “We all know how important this series is but we want to keep things simple. There are few changes in the side but I’m really confident that those who have come in for the seniors and injured players are capable of performing well.”

Teams

Sri Lanka: MDKJ Perera, TM Dilshan, HDRL Thirimanne, WU Tharanga, LD Chandimal, AD Mathews, TAM Siriwardana, NLTC Perera, S Prasanna, RAS Lakmal, SL Malinga

Pakistan: Azhar Ali, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Yasir Shah, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Irfan