Sri Lankan captain Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against New Zealand in Galle on Wednesday.
On a spin-friendly pitch, New Zealand face an emboldened Sri Lanka who last week ended a 10-year wait for a Test match win in England, despite losing the series.
World Test Championship points are on the line and the Black Caps are third behind India and Australia in the table. Sri Lanka are fifth.
The first Test, on the imposing grounds beneath the walls of the 17th century Galle Fort, will have a rest day on Saturday when Sri Lanka votes at a presidential election.
"Galle is always a fabulous batting wicket, and the fourth innings will be tough to bat," de Silva said at the toss.
"We have lot of momentum behind us having beaten England in London. We are motivated and looking forward."
Sri Lanka made two changes to the side that beat England, bringing in spin bowlers Ramesh Mendis and Prabath Jayasuriya, replacing seam bowlers Milan Rathnayake and Vishwa Fernando.
There were changes in the batting line-up too, with Dinesh Chandimal relieved of wicketkeeping duties, and moved to number three from number five.
Kamindu Mendis moves up to number five from number seven while Kusal Mendis takes over the wicketkeeping gloves.
New Zealand comes into the match ready to shake off the frustration of their abandoned Test with Afghanistan in India last week, which was washed out without a ball being bowled.
Skipper Tim Southee said he had wanted to bat first, adding it had "been a while since we played Test cricket".
He said Galle was a "tough place to come and play cricket", but that his team were "looking forward" to the challenge.
The second Test will also be played at Galle, from September 26.
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), Kusal Mendis (wkt), Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara and Asitha Fernando.
New Zealand: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell(wkt), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee(capt), Ajaz Patel, William O'Rourke.
Umpires: Michael Gough (ENG) and Ahsan Raza (PAK)
Third Umpire: Nitin Menon (IND)
Match Referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)