Lanka take on New Zealand

With one win and a loss in their respective group games in the league stage, both Sri Lanka and New Zealand would look to sort out their weaknesses quickly and get off to a winning start when they clash in the first Super Eight match of the ICC World Twenty20 on Thursday.

Sri Lanka were runners-up to South Africa in Group ‘C’, while New Zealand finished second to Pakistan in Group ‘D’ after both of teams lost to strong opponents on their way to the Super Eight stage.

Sri Lanka, after crushing Zimbabwe by 82 runs in their opening match of the tournament, subsequently lost to South Africa by 32 runs in a rain-curtailed seven-over-a-side game.

New Zealand, on the other hand, entered the knock-out stage after posting a 59-run win over Bangladesh, riding on Brendon McCullum’s superb 123 off 58 balls. They lost to Pakistan by 13 runs in the next match but the result had no bearing on their chances, as the net run rate was healthy enough for the Kiwis to emerge from their group.

Thus, there is very little to choose between the two sides ahead of their contest at Pallekele International Cricket stadium here.

In fact, out of the nine T20 Internationals the two teams played so far, New Zealand won five and Sri Lanka four.

Interestingly, two out of nine of those ties were staged in Sri Lanka and the Black Caps managed to win both the matches at the RPS Colombo in 2009.

New Zealand can also take heart from the fact that they would be playing at the same venue where they had played both their league games, while Sri Lanka’s two matches took place at Hambantota.

Inspite of this, the Islanders are expected to bank heavily on the home advantage.
Apart from the rain-shortened game against South Africa, most of the Lankan batsmen looked in good shape during the two warm-up matches and against Zimbabwe. But come Thursday, the scenario could be different as New Zealand are a quality side.

For Sri Lanka, a matter of concern is the form of opener Tillakaratne Dilshan, who has been completely off-colour.