PALLEKELE: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq won the toss and sent Sri Lanka in to bat in the decisive third and final Test in Pallekele on Friday.
Both sides made four changes each in a bid to break the 1-1 deadlock.
Pakistan went in with a fresh three-man seam attack in Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil and Imran Khan, and also brought in batsman Shan Masood.
Pace spearhead Wahab Riaz has been sidelined with a fractured hand, while Mohammad Hafeez is not available since he needs to undergo mandatory tests after being reported for a suspect action in the first Test.
Left-arm seamer Junaid Khan and spinner Zulfiqar Babar were dropped.
Sri Lanka will take the field without batting great Kumar Sangakkara, who had committed himself to playing just two Tests against Pakistan and two more against India in August before retiring.
Sangakkara was replaced by another left-hander, Upul Tharanga, while batsman Jehan Mubarak came in for Kithuruwan Vithanage in the middle-order.
The hosts also left out veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath and injured fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera to play seamers Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep. Dhammika Prasad leads the three-man pace attack.
Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Azhar Ali, Ahmed Shehzad, Shan Masood, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah, Imran Khan, Ehsan Adil, Rahat Ali.
Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal, Jehan Mubarak, Tharindu Kaushal, Nuwan Pradeep, Dhammika Prasad, Suranga Lakmal.
Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG) and Paul Reiffel (AUS)
TV umpire: Sundaram Ravi (IND)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)
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