Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal won the toss and chose to bowl first on a dry Mount Maunganui track, simply citing a preference to chase. He expected the pitch to take turn, but did not think it would change in character over the 40 overs. Kane Williamson said he would have chosen to bat first anyway.

Matt Henry, Trent Boult and Mitchell McClenaghan made up New Zealand’s pace battery, with the legspin of Ish Sodhi also available. Grant Elliott and Corey Anderson, who will not bowl, play in the middle order and Colin Munro is likely to bat in the top order. Williamson is likely to open the innings alongside Martin Guptill.

Danushka Gunathilaka made his T20I debut for the visitors, following one good innings during the ODI series. Spin-bowling allrounder Shehan Jayasuriya was also in the XI and was likely bat in the top order. Legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay was the sole frontline spinner, but Sri Lanka had Milinda Siriwardana and Tillakaratne Dilshan’s finger spin to call on. Thisara Perera was also selected, which meant there were only three specialist bowlers in the XI.

Conditions were expected to remain cloudy but dry for the duration of the encounter.

New Zealand: 1 Kane Williamson (capt), 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Corey Anderson, 5 Colin Munro, 6 Grant Elliott, 7 Luke Ronchi (wk), 8 Mitchell McClenaghan, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Ish Sodhi

Sri Lanka: 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Danushka Gunathilaka , 3 Shehan Jayasuriya, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (capt & wk), 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Milinda Siriwardana, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Jeffrey Vandersay

Cricinfo