Saturday’s action in the Cricket World Cup comes from Leeds where semi final bound India take on Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka were in action against West Indies in Durham on Monday and they won the game by 23 runs. Sri Lanka now have an overall record of 3 wins, 3 defeats and 2 no results but their chances of making the play offs have already evaporated.
Batting first against West Indies Sri Lanka posted a very healthy 338/6 with Avishka Fernando’s 104 the top score and Kusal Perera made 64. They had West Indies in trouble at 84/4 and although a ton from Pooran threatened to take the game away from them, Sri Lanka held their nerve and Malinga (3/55) was their top bowler.
Sri Lanka’s games against Pakistan and Bangladesh were both washed out without a ball being bowled. In completed matches they lost to New Zealand by 10 wickets, beat Afghanistan by 34 runs (DLS), lost to Australia by 87 runs, beat England by 20 runs and lost to South Africa by 9 wickets.
Kusal Perera is leading run scorer for Sri Lanka with 255, Dimuth Karunaratne has made 212 and Avishka Fernando has made 183. With the ball Malinga has taken 12 wickets and Nuwan Pradeep, Isuru Udana and Dhananjaya de Silva all have 5.
This was how Sri Lanka lined up against West Indies last time out.
Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Kusal Perera (wk), Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Kasun Rajitha, Lasith Malinga
India:
India were in action against Bangladesh in Birmingham on Tuesday and a 28 run victory secured their semi finals place. Rohit Sharma (104) and Lokesh Rahul (77) put on 180 for the first wicket in 29.2 overs against Bangladesh and India went on to post 314/9. Bangladesh gave it everything they had in the chase but Bumrah (4/55) and Hardik Pandya (3/60) took the bulk of the wickets and they were all out for 286 in 48 overs.
India’s record comprises of 6 wins, 1 defeat and 1 no result and if they win here they could top the standings although Australia will have the opportunity to seal pole position with a win ove South Africa. Whichever team tops the log will take on the fourth placed side (almost certainly New Zealand) whilst the runner up will clash with third placed England.
Earlier results saw India beat South Africa by 6 wickets, Australia by 36 runs and a scheduled meeting with New Zealand was completely washed out. They then beat Pakistan by 89 runs (DLS), Afghanistan by 11 runs and West Indies by 125 runs before their only defeat so far came against England (31 runs)
Rohit Sharma is leading run scorer for India with 544, Virat Kohli has 408 and Lokesh Rahul has made 249. With the ball Bumrah and Shami have both taken 14 wickets and Chahal has 11.
This was how India lined up against Bangladesh last time out.
Lokesh Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (capt), Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah
Head to Head
The teams have met 158 times with India winning 90, Sri Lanka have won 56 with 1 tie and 11 no results.
The most recent series came in India in December 2017 and India won it 2-1.
The Betting, Click here for all markets
Sri Lanka 5/1
India 1/7
Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.
Verdict:
On current form you would surely rather face New Zealand than England in the semi finals and that should see India stay focused on this game.
Sri Lanka can play without any pressure and although some of their batting displays have been weak I’m hoping they can contribute to a total match sixes count of at least 8.
Suggested Bets:
Total Match 6s, over 7.5 at even money
