Sri Lanka will look to keep their chances of making the semi-finals alive when they take on West Indies, who are playing just for pride, in their ICC World Cup 2019 encounter here on Monday (today).

Sri Lanka’s 20-run win over England revived their campaign but a nine-wicket loss to South Africa in the very next game brought them right back to square one.

The 1996 champions, who are placed seventh on the points table with six points from seven matches, need to win their final two games and hope for favorable outcomes in England and Pakistan’s next fixtures.

Against South Africa, their inconsistent batting came to the fore yet again and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne will look to improve on that against a challenging West Indian bowling attack.

With their batting unit misfiring more often than not, the onus to secure favorable results has always been put on the experienced bowling attack, led by veteran speedster Lasith Malinga.

With Nuwan Pradeep being forced out of the tournament due to chickenpox, Sri Lanka will rely heavily on their bowling spearhead once again. The Jason Holder-led side, on the other hand, will look to finish on a high after being knocked out of the tournament.

West Indies came into the tournament as a potential surprise package and started their World Cup campaign with a bang, demolishing Pakistan by seven wickets. But things have gone from bad to worse for them since as they have suffered five defeats since. Though they have been impressive in parts, the side has failed to hold their nerve in tight games.

They could yet cause Sri Lanka some issues if their destructive batting line up – including the likes of Chris Gayle, Carlos Brathwaite, and Shai Hope – comes to the party.

Source: Daily Times
-Agencies