Sri Lanka hasn’t had much to flaunt about in this tournament. Though they lack finishers with both bat and ball in their side, they will look to outplay England in the Group 2 fixture at Delhi tomorrow. England too will look to continue their winning streak against South Africa and Afghanistan and will try and confirm their semi-final berth with a win over the Lankans.
Apart from Thisara Perera’s 40 off 29, against the Windies on Sunday, Sri Lanka had a woeful outing, losing 5 wickets with just 47 on the board. Along with that, he has to be the death bowler in the absence of the experienced Lasith Malinga. According to Vice-Captain Dinesh Chandimal, Sri Lankan players have utilised the 6 day gap between their two matches to analyse their game and work on its betterment. He also said that they would try and restrict England by using their spinners, Herath, Senanayake and Vandersay on a slow Kotla track. He talked about how the batting should improve and Matthews will probably continue to bat at no. 5. He also mentioned that the English might be a little surprised with the team that they are going to play tomorrow.
England, on the other hand, have seen some drama in the tournament. After Chris Gayle storming his way through, they came back in fine style against the South Africans and broke multiple records on their way. They did have a moment of tension against Afghanistan, but an Adil Rashid’s 2 for 17 played a major role in the holding the Asians back. They have played spin well so far as neither Samuel Badree nor Imran Tahir seemed to rattle them much. Joe Root’s fine form will be the key as they would look to win this and go ahead without worrying much about the NRR. Jos Butler, the T-20 vice captain would probably want to notch up some runs under his belt and not repeat his “try hard” attempt against Afghanistan.
Probables for the match
England: 1. Jason Roy, 2. Alex Hales, 3. Joe Root, 4. Jos Buttler(wk), 5. Eoin Morgan (capt), 6. Ben Stokes, 7. Moeen Ali, 8. Chris Jordan, 9. David Willey, 10. Adil Rashid, 11. Liam Plunkett
Sri Lanka: 1. Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 2. Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3. Lahiru Thirimanne, 4. Chamara Kapugedara, 5. Angelo Mathews (capt.), 6. Milinda Siriwardana, 7. Thisara Perera, 8. Sachithra Senanayake, 9. Rangana Herath, 10. Dushmantha Chameera, 11. Jeffrey Vandersay
Pitch and Weather:
A slow Feroz Shah Kotla track is expected again. Slow doesn’t mean the ball will turn and grip. Weather isn’t likely to cause any disruption in the game.
Trivia of the two teams
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Joe Root has a staggering strike rate of 162.50 with 143 runs to his name in the tournament so far.
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Thisara Perera’s highest score of 49 off 25 against the English at Oval in 2014 is his highest T20 score.
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Alex Hales has scored England’s lone T20I hundered, which came against the Lankans in their last World Cup clash at Chittagong in 2014.
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