Pakistan name Farhan captain for three Sri Lanka T20Is
The Pakistan Cricket Board announced on 5 October that Sahibzada Farhan will captain Pakistan's 15-member T20I squad against Sri Lanka on 9, 11 and 13 October in Rawalpindi. Sri Lanka had already named a 15-player squad led by Kusal Mendis. This is a new cross-team selection picture ahead of Friday's first match—not a result or a confirmed playing eleven.
The series begins 9 October, not 5 October. Match-day selection is still pending.
Pakistan's announced T20I group: Sahibzada Farhan (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Arafat Minhas, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Nawaz, Muhammad Imran Randhawa, Khawaja Nafay (wicketkeeper), Maaz Sadaqat, Naseem Shah, Razaullah, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Shadab Khan and Sufiyan Moqim. This is the full PCB list, not an inferred XI.
Sri Lanka's 15 and the injury-dependent decisions
The Sri Lanka Cricket release lists Kusal Mendis (captain), Kamil Mishara, Sineth Jayawardena, Lahiru Udara, Sahan Arachchige, Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Dushmantha Chameera, Binura Fernando, Nuwan Thushara and Eshan Malinga. SLC makes Chameera's inclusion subject to fitness; that caveat must travel with any “full squad” list.
An ICC account says Pathum Nissanka and Wanindu Hasaranga are unavailable for this T20I leg because of injuries, with any later ODI return subject to fitness. Neither an ODI possibility nor a 15-man tour list establishes an 11-player T20I team.
Do not mistake Pakistan's ODI captain for its T20I captain
The same PCB announcement gives Shaheen Shah Afridi the captaincy of the separate ODI tri-series squad, which includes Babar Azam and Salman Ali Agha. Those players are not in the board's Pakistan–Sri Lanka T20I group. Calling an ODI selection a T20I recall—or saying Shaheen captains Friday's T20I—would misstate the actual format split.
There is also a source disagreement on the later ODI tri-series match count between PCB and an ICC summary; neither figure is needed to explain these three bilateral T20Is. We use the PCB's dates and venue for the immediate series and do not assert an ODI schedule in this article.
What changes between now and 9 October
All three matches are scheduled at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, on 9, 11 and 13 October according to PCB and ICC. Recheck medical updates, match timing and both XIs before the opening game. This article concerns senior men's bilateral T20Is, not the unrelated Sri Lanka–Bangladesh Women's Under-19 result in Pakistan.