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Pakistan takes on Sri Lanka on June 07, 2019 at the County Ground in Bristol for Match #11 of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Pakistan
Pakistan’s a team which made the World Cup semifinals three in a row from 1979 to 1983. They were World Champions in 1992 when they beat England in the final and they were runners-up to India in 1999. The Green Shirts were semi-finalists in 2011 and quarter-finalists the last time out. However, Pakistan entered the 2019 ICC World Cup on poor form, having won just three out of their last 20 ODIs.
Pakistan squad: Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Asif Ali, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka won the Cricket World Cup in 1996 and were finalists in 2007 and 2011. However, their performance has dipped as of late because of a “scattergun” selection process. Sri Lanka headed to the 2019 ICC World Cup in awful form as they had won just 10 out of their 43 ODIs since July 2017 including just two out of their last 16.
Sri Lanka squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Avishka Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Pradeep, Dhananjaya de Silva, Milinda Siriwardana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay.
Who Wins?
Sri Lanka had a lackluster Cricket World Cup debut as they lost by 10 wickets to New Zealand during their opening campaign. Their batsmen didn’t play well and were, in fact, disappointing as they scored just 136 runs and were only able to bat for 29.2 overs. No Sri Lankan batsman, except captain Dimuth Karunaratne, scored over 30 runs and that’s really the main reason why they lost their tournament opener. Big-named players Angelos Matthews and Kusal Mendis lowered the team’s confidence when both made ducks during the contest. Their bowling also failed them as New Zealand was able to chase down their total in just 16.1. With Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera bowling below par, Sri Lanka was unable to take no wickets. Things don’t look good for Sri Lanka and I’m not sure if they can turn things around in this tournament.
As of this writing, Match 7 of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup or Sri Lanka’s June 4th match against Afghanistan was halted by a rain delay. Afghanistan won the toss but chose to field first. Sri Lanka was off to an excellent 144 for 1 start but the Afghans had started to bowl very well just before play was halted. Afghanistan registered an impressive turnaround, forcing Sri Lanka to slide at 159/6.
Pakistan was blown out during their opening match of the 2019 ICC World Cup as they suffered a big defeat at the hands of West Indies. It was a terrible batting effort as the team bowled out for just 105 runs. Most of Pakistan’s top men were bounced out as the short ball was what gave them much trouble. Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman were Pakistan’s top two batsmen and neither scored over 30. On the other hand, their bowling looked good as Mohammad Amir took 3 wickets and the team looked like they had the pace during his spell.
However, Pakistan came up with the biggest upset so far in the tournament as they shocked world #1, hosts and cricket betting favorites England. After entering the world cup with 11 straight ODI losses and after being outclassed by the West Indies during their World Cup Opener, Pakistan was being written off by some quarters. But led by Mohammad Hafeez’s brilliant knock of 84, Pakistan set a target of 349, defended the total and limited England to 334. The loss was a shock to the favorites and for Pakistan, the win should give them plenty of confidence heading to this showdown with Sri Lanka,
Pakistan is on a high from its upset of England. On the other hand, Sri Lanka showed some flashes of brilliance against Afghanistan but I was surprised with the quick turnaround before the rain delay. More than Afghanistan’s good fielding, I think Sri Lanka’s inconsistency is a result of the lack of confidence. Masith Lasinga called out his teammates after their loss to the West Indies and I was hoping it would perk them up. I’m not sure what happens to them next. As for Pakistan, I think they are going to turn things around after their morale-boosting win over England. Prediction: Pakistan
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