Despite being in the group of death, Sri Lanka had fairly good chances of making it to the Super 8s but the odds took a turn for worse when they received back-to-back defeats against South Africa and Bangladesh. While they are on the brink of disqualification now, a few chances, as it always annoyingly is the case, still linger for them. And what else can they do except to hope to cash on whatever minuscule chances remain? There is not a lot they can do to realize their World Cup chances. The best they can do is to ensure they win the remaining two matches. After which they need to pray that Bangladesh loses all or at least one of their fixtures. But even with all these twists, the task would be far from done. Slated to play the first match of the tournament in Florida, rain could hold sway during game time and deny the players off the ground mercilessly. Rain abandoning the match equals to ending of Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign. To the Lankan’s sheer horror, a washout is very much on the cards.
Nepal never actually had a chance to make it through to the next stage. But like many other low-ranked teams in the tourney, they were expected to create an upset. They still have three of their matches left, against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and South Africa, which means they still have a very solid probability of being a thorn in one of these teams’ eyes.
Team Overview:
Coming into the tournament, Sri Lanka’s batting lineup did not look too impressive. The lineup has inexperienced batters, a few of them are too placid for this format, and the remaining batters fancy performing once in a blue moon. However, two matches done, the batting lineup seems to have done worse than what was expected of them. Barring Pathum Nissanka, no batter could even crack over 30 runs in two matches. What is more baffling is, besides Kusal Mendis and Nissanka, no batter has even collectively scored more than 30 runs in two matches. Nothing could depict the condition of Sri Lanka’s shambolic batting than these stats. They have a better chance this time around. Floridian conditions have already hosted the Lankans for two warm-up games but it all comes down to the players nevertheless.
Nepal has only played one game so far and nothing wrong in saying that they did not show any hope-inducing signs. The batters could accumulate less than what Dallas offered them and that was proved by the Netherlands bowlers after they bested the target with 8 balls and 6 wickets to spare. Their bowlers did a slightly better job and Florida’s current weather is likely to further assist them in creating more pressure on Sri Lanka’s already maimed batting lineup.
Head-to-Head Matches:
Despite playing in last year’s Asia Cup together, both teams have never faced each other in any of the formats. This means it will be the first time both sides will play each other for the first time in the shortest format.
Weather and Pitch Report:
Rain has been visiting Florida frequently off late and is likely to play spoilsport in this fixture as well. There is a 60% chance of precipitation according to several weather channels, which is more than enough to ruin the game.
Lauderhill Stadium has all the ingredients it takes to brew the perfect batting pitch and it has always been a high-run affair in Florida. Batters can expect to pile myriads of runs. However, with moisture in the air, bowlers would get an exceedingly lethal swing which can not be taken out of account.
Where to Watch:
You can watch the games on the following platforms as per your region:
- India – Star Sports
- Pakistan – PTV Sports, Ten Sports, Myco (Live streaming) and Tamasha app (Live streaming)
- USA and Canada – Willow TV
- England – Sky Sports Network
- Caribbean – ESPN Caribbean
- New Zealand & Australia – Sky Sports NZ, Prime Video
- Other regions – SuperSport, Sirasa, CricLife, STARZPLAY
