Kusal Mendis takes charge of Sri Lanka in Test cricket for the first time as the tourists open a two-match series against Pakistan, with the first Test starting November 9 in Rawalpindi and the series closing at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium from November 17. Mendis takes over after Dhananjaya de Silva stepped down from the Test captaincy, a role he had held since January 2024, putting Mendis in charge of Sri Lanka across all three international formats at once.
Sri Lanka have named a 15-player Test squad built around their established core, with Dilshan Madushanka returning to the group and uncapped seamer Eshan Malinga included for the first time. Opener Pathum Nissanka has also been included in the touring party, with his place in the first Test still subject to full fitness clearance after a recent injury concern. Dhananjaya de Silva remains in the squad as a senior batter despite giving up the captaincy, keeping his experience available to the new leadership group.
The Test series is the final leg of a tour that began on October 9 with a three-match T20I series and also included an ODI tri-series involving England, running through to November 21. A three-day tour match in Islamabad from November 4 gives Sri Lanka's batters and bowlers a chance to find red-ball rhythm before the first Test, a meaningful warm-up given how little first-class cricket the squad will have played on Pakistani surfaces coming into the series.
Handing Mendis the Test armband on a tour as demanding as this one is a real vote of confidence from Sri Lanka Cricket, rather than a token appointment eased in against a weaker opponent. Both Tests count toward the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle, so Mendis's first assignment in charge carries table implications from ball one, and a touring side without Nissanka at full fitness and relying on an uncapped seamer in Malinga will test his man-management early.
Dilshan Madushanka's recall to the Test squad is the standout team-news angle for fantasy purposes, given his recent white-ball form on this same tour; Pathum Nissanka's fitness clearance is worth tracking closely before locking in a top order, and Kusal Mendis himself carries extra scrutiny as both captain and a front-line batter in his first Test in charge.
Follow ball-by-ball updates once the series begins on SportGod's live matches page, build a squad on SportGod's games page, and check data-backed forecasts on SportGod's predictions page.
Squad and schedule details in this article are verified against same-day and freshly re-checked reporting as of November 2, 2026; Pathum Nissanka's fitness for the first Test had not been finally confirmed at the time of writing.
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