Sri Lanka will take on New Zealand in what would be a must-win game in the Super 12 Stage of the T20 Cricket World Cup at the Sydney Cricket Ground today with play scheduled to commence at 1.30 p.m. Sri Lanka time.
New Zealand is currently the team to beat after they caused the first upset in the World Cup by beating the defending champs Australia in their first match and have acquired a high status with the experts predicting a place for the Kiwis in the semi finals.
New Zealand is expected to field the same team that beat Australia while Sri Lanka move into the match with injury concerns as well as team form with only openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis being among the runs with half centuries and fast bowler Binura Fernando out through a hamstring injury.
Binura Fernando’s place will be taken by Asitha Fernando who is also not expected to be at his best without any proper match practice since playing in the Asia Cup that Sri Lanka won in August-September this year.
Both Binura Fernando and Asitha Fernando were not selected in the first place with the former replacing Dushmantha Chameera who was injured during the qualifying round game against the United Arab Emirates.
Another worry for Sri Lanka will be over how main strike bowler Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva shapes up against New Zealand today after he was smashed for 53 runs in three overs by Australia while fellow spinner Maheesh Theekshana gave away just 23 runs.
The batting will also be of concern to the Sri Lankans with middle order batters Bhanuka Rajapakse and Dasun Shanaka unable to make progress towards expectations in the four matches that the duo have batted in.
Rajapakse has so far made scores of 7, 19, 5 and 20 in the four matches he batted while Shanaka has a top score of 29 after making contributions of 3, 8 and 0.
In contrast Charith Asalanka regained some of his form after being dismissed without scoring in the first match against Namibia by making scores of 31, 31 not out and 38 not out in his last three games.
The only impact in the batting was however made by Kusal Mendis who has made two half centuries of 68 and 79 from the five matches he played while Pathum Nissanka Silva has one half century (74) and a 40 to go by. But all eyes will be on New Zealand openers Finn Allen and Devon Conway who pulverized the Australian bowlers with the latter making 92 as the Kiwis raced to a total of 200 for 3 in the 20 overs.
Teams:
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (captain), Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka Silva, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapakse, Chamika Karunaratne, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson
by Daily News Sri Lanka
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