New Zealand’s captain Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to field first in the ODI 41 of the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup played at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Thursday (Nov. 09).
On winning the toss, Williamson said: “We will have a bowl first. Little bit of weather around. Little bit of unknowns. By and large we have won a few and lost a few. Been there and thereabouts. Some close ones which could have gone either ways. Here we are today, would want to address the issue in front of us. Lockie comes in for Ish Sodhi. Adjust to what is in front of us. Make use of the ball first up.”
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis said: “I was looking to bowl. But unfortunately, we are batting first. Very important game today. If we do the basics well, we should do well. NZ is a calm team. We played here against and played well. One change for us. Rajitha is not playing but Chamika is playing.”
New Zealand and Sri Lanka are fighting in two different halves of the table and the result of this match will have significant implications for both those races.
New Zealand are looking to keep Pakistan and Afghanistan at bay in the race to the semi-finals while Sri Lanka are trying to stay afloat in the race for qualification to the 2025 Champions Trophy.
However, both their efforts could be dampened, and even drowned out, by incessant rainfall that has engulfed Bengaluru over the past couple of days.
Parts of the city is under yellow alert till November 10 and so there are high chances of this game being significantly affected by rain. In the worst-case scenario, there could be a washout as there are about four thunderstorms predicted throughout the course of the day. The city has witnessed heavy rainfall in the last four-five days prompting the MET department to issue a yellow alert from Monday. A yellow alert is issued when the rainfall is between 64.5 mm and 115.5 mm in a day.
Sri Lanka’s campaign has been thrown haywire by the fact that they lost to Bangladesh by three wickets in a game that was laden with controversy. That was their third consecutive defeat and the fact that it came after a 302-run hammering at the hands of India meant that their net run rate has also plummeted. England jumping up to seventh spot has temporarily pushed them out of the qualification spots for the Champions Trophy as well.
New Zealand, on the other hand, are surprisingly on shaky grounds after starting off with four consecutive wins. They are fourth due to their net run rate, level on points with the two teams below them in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
While a victory against Sri Lanka would put them two points clear of Pakistan, it will also give the latter an exact idea as to what they need to do when they face England on Saturday. Afghanistan, while being on eight points as well, are too far behind on net run rate to be considered a serious threat for New Zealand.
Both sides are hence looking for as comprehensive a win as possible to secure their respective positions in the two halves of the table. However, the whole thing could end up being a damp squib with the city of Bengaluru being hit by heavy showers a day before the match.
Both teams will be hurt by a washout but arguably, New Zealand far more in the race to the top four than Sri Lanka in the race for the top eight. New Zealand need two points from this match or else Afghanistan or Pakistan could overtake them. Sri Lanka will move into the qualification spots for the Champions Trophy but will then need England, Bangladesh and Netherlands to all lose their matches.
Sri Lanka Playing XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis(w/c), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka
New Zealand Playing XI: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson(c), Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tom Latham(w), Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson
-with inputs from agencies
