ICC World Cup 2019 – Match 20: SL vs AUS – Sri Lanka Predicted Playing XI

Two washouts on the trot even without the toss would have been quite frustrating for Sri Lanka. However, this essentially means that they have one win out of these two matches. Given the way they’ve fared in the last few months, the team will be quite happy with these points. However, no player will enjoy the feeling of sitting in the dugout and watch a game yield no result.

As the rain threat still looms around, Sri Lanka will be facing a tough opposition in the form of Australia. The Kangaroos have been on a roll with three wins in four games and are a tough opposition to beat. For this crucial encounter, Sri Lanka is expected to make some important changes to its eleven.

Here is the Predicted Playing XI for Sri Lanka:

Openers (Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Kusal Perera (wk))

Dimuth Karunaratne has been one of the best batsmen for Sri Lanka in the last few games. He has applied himself well in the English conditions and has countered swing well. Kusal Perera also looked good in the game against Afghanistan where he scored a quickfire 78 runs.

He will continue to open the innings and his team would expect for a good start yet again. However, it won’t be easy for this duo facing the likes of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc who have been extremely good in the last few games. It is important for them to survive the first 10 or 15 overs so that the middle order can capitalise later on.

Middle Order (Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews)

Batting at three, Lahiru Thirimanne should look to play as long as possible. He is one of the most fluent stroke makers and should eye a big knock. In case one of the openers fall early in the innings, the onus will be on Thirimanne to take control of things and build good partnerships with the batsmen at the other end.

Both Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews will be eager for their chance to bat. While Mendis has registered scores of 0 and 2 in the first two games, Mathews has bagged two consecutive ducks. Both of them have got a point to prove and should look to perform well against strong opposition like Australia if their team is to fancy the chance of a win.

All-Rounders (Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana)

Both Dhananjaya de Silva and Thisara Perera are great talents with the bat. They are two of the cleanest strikers of the cricket ball in this team and can take the game away from the opposition within no time. However, they haven’t been able to make the most of their talent and have only scored 45 and 43 runs respectively in the last five outings.

It is important for them to take more responsibility with the bat and play sensible cricket. They have got to be economical with the ball as well. Isuru Udana is the other all-rounder in this team. He should look to curb his aggressive instinct with the bat and apply himself better. Being one of the frontline bowlers in the team, Udana needs to get more wickets under his belt.

Bowlers (Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga)

Nuwan Pradeep, after the brilliant four-wicket haul against Afghanistan, was ruled out for the next game due to an injury. He developed a cut and dislocation on his finger on the bowling arm just before the game against Bangladesh. However, he sweated out hard in the nets before this game and bowled for about 25 minutes. Thus, he is likely to be back in the eleven.

If he still remains unfit, Jeevan Mendis will take his place. Lasith Malinga has also returned from Sri Lanka after attending his mother-in-law’s funeral. While he is expected to be in the eleven, Suranga Lakmal will complete the team. Lakmal is still to get amongst the wickets and will want to open his account in the game against Australia.