Live blog - Sri Lanka and Pakistan in search of crucial Super Fours points

Halfway through this innings and it's clear Sri Lanka have struggled with their execution, while Pakistan have perfected theirs. The pitch has had the ball coming on nicely, while the outfield has been lightning quick. There however was a lot of lateral movement on offer for the seamers early on.

Sri Lanka realised early that this was set to be a high-scoring surface, but in attempting to capitalise they have been reckless and lost five wickets at the halfway point. This has seen their scoring also slow to a crawl post-powerplay, with just 17 runs being scored between overs 6-10. That target score of 180 seems a long way off.

Sri Lanka are under the pump. Even after the powerplay Sri Lanka have continued to go for their shots; Charith Asalanka in fact had a close call, mistiming a slog sweep that fell just short of an onrushing deep midwicket.

But against Hussain Talat, he looked for a short-arm pull first up that ended being chipped gently down to deep square leg. Then the first ball Dasun Shanaka faced, a back of a length ball outside off, was nicked off to the keeper. It means Sri Lanka have lost half their side with just 58 on the board.

Sri Lanka struck 53 runs inside the powerplay, but Pakistan picked up the three wickets of Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera to ensure that they were the happier of the two sides after the end of the first six overs.

Shaheen Shah Afridi has been the pick of the bowlers in the early sparring, with figures of 2 for 21 in three overs. Haris Rauf picked up Perera in his solitary over - though it went for 14, signifying Sri Lanka's aggressive approach.

Sri Lanka have indeed refused to be cowed by the loss of wickets and continued to go for their shots - four 4s and four 6s apiece in the powerplay.

Sri Lanka have lost both openers, and Afridi has accounted for both. Nissanka had just belted Afridi for thumping six down the ground, but in trying to go for a carbon copy repeat - this one nipping away off the seam - he could only manage a thick edge behind.

The early signs therefore are that winning the toss and bowling first has been the right call for Pakistan, with both Shaheen Shah Afridi and Faheem Ashraf getting the ball moving both ways - off the seam and in the air.

But Sri Lanka will be happy with their scoring rate. The early movement has been troubling, but the ball has come on to the bat well and Sri Lanka's batters have cleared the boundary several times already.

It's a glorious thing when a plan comes together, and Pakistan will be absolutely chuffed with how their early plan for Kusal Mendis turned out.

With a catching midwicket in place, Afridi swung one back into the right-hander, hoping he would clip this straight to the man in the ring - and Mendis duly obliged. Timed to perfection, but straight into the pouch.

And yet another first over wicket for Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Pakistan have won the toss and elected to bowl first against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi. Both sides come into this game having lost their opening matches in the Super Fours.

Salman Ali Agha said his decision was simply based on changing things up. He also said there was a definite need to improve how they finish off their innings.

Charith Asalanka said he too would have liked to chase, but is happy to bat first as it looks to be a good pitch. He's happy with the cricket Sri Lanka is playing, but just wants to improve their performances at the death with both the bat and ball.

In terms of team news, Pakistan have named an unchanged XI. Sri Lanka have brought in Chamika Karunaratne - playing just his third T20I this year - and Maheesh Theekshana, for Dunith Wellalage and Kamil Mishara.

The pitch looks to be one that's good for batting, with the average first innings winning total in Abu Dhabi being 183. There should be some swing early on, though not much assistance for spin.

Pakistan XI: Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Hussain Talat, Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Agha (capt.), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Haris (wk), Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed

Sri Lanka XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera, Charith Asalanka (capt), Dasun Shanaka, Kamindu Mendis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Thushara

Pakistan's defeat to India might in the end have been the latest in a growing catalogue of defeats to their historic - of not exactly immediate - rivals. But for the first 10 overs of that game, Pakistan gave their long-suffering fans a glimmer of hope. Much of that came from Sahibzada Farhan, whose 58 off 45 at the top of the order helped Pakistan put together their best start of the tournament - and India, in general.

Farhan believes that that performance, despite the result, is something to take confidence from, and build upon.

Charith Asalanka speaking ahead of the game said that Sri Lanka might be looking at making a couple of changes. While Matheesha Pathirana is unwell and has been ruled out of tonight’s game, there is the possibility of one or both of Maheesh Theekshana and Chamika Karunaratne coming in to the playing XI.

Sri Lanka have been quite set on a 7-4 combination for quite some time, but against Bangladesh their difficulties in fulfilling their fifth bowler quota, along with Dunith Wellalage being nominally a fourth bowling option, meant there was a distinct lack of wicket-taking options available to Asalanka.

The return of Theekshana to the side would no doubt help fix that, while adding Karunaratne in place of one of the batters - potentially Kamil Mishara, who has struggled to make quick starts - could strengthen the bowling, while only marginally denting their batting.