In the recent T20 and ODI series between India and Sri Lanka, there was some strong action. While Team India won the T20 series, Sri Lanka won the ODI series. In the ODI series, Sri Lanka surprised everyone by defeating Team India. In this victory, Sri Lanka's spinners got all the attention but there was one player who showed consistency in both the series and scored runs consistently for Sri Lanka. Despite this, Sri Lanka has not given that player a place in the playing eleven. This player is young opener Pathum Nissanka, who did not get a chance in the first match of the Test series against England.

The first match of the 3 match series between England and Sri Lanka will be played at Old Trafford, Manchester from Wednesday 21st August. England had announced its playing eleven on Monday itself. Then on Tuesday, Sri Lanka also announced the names of its 11 players. In this, the responsibility of opening was once again given to former captain Dimuth Karunaratne and Nishan Madushka has been included to support him. Madushka has been playing the responsibility of opening for the last one and a half years.

Pathum Nissanka will have to wait

However, Pathum Nissanka, who scored a blistering 137 runs in the T20 series against India and 101 runs in the ODI series, has not got a chance. Before Madushka, Nissanka was carrying out this responsibility for almost 2 years. He scored a century in his debut match against West Indies in 2021. After this, there was a slight decline in his performance, after which Madushka got a chance. However, given Nissanka's recent form in international cricket, he was expected to return to the playing XI, but this could not happen in the first Test.

Sri Lanka Playing XI against England in the first Test match announced #ENGvSL https://t.co/1Je4NOZuXs

— Sri Lanka Cricket (@OfficialSLC) August 20, 2024

Milan will make his debut

Nissanka may not have got a chance, but 28-year-old fast bowler Milan Ratnayake will make his international debut for Sri Lanka at Old Trafford on Wednesday. Sri Lanka, which is struggling with the lack of some of its key bowlers, had no choice but to give Ratnayake a debut. Ratnayake's performance in domestic cricket has not been very good. He has taken only 81 wickets in 40 first class matches. At the same time, he has 47 wickets in his account in 45 List A matches. However, in an ODI match, he took 6 wickets in 4 overs, giving away just 12 runs. Now Sri Lanka will hope that he does something similar with the red ball against England.