England will be hoping to make it four wins from as many games when they face Sri Lanka in match 29 of the ICC T20 World Cup. A win against Sri Lanka will ensure a place in the semi-finals for the Eoin Morgan-led side. England have emerged as the team to beat in the World Cup, putting together a string of impressive performances. England have beaten defending champions West Indies followed by thumping wins over Bangladesh and old rivals Australia.
Sri Lanka, though, find themselves in a do or die situation. The team qualified for the ‘Super 12’ stage of the World Cup after winning all their games in the first round. The 2014 T20 World Cup champions beat Bangladesh in their first ‘Super 12’ match. But the Asians have since lost the plot, having been at the receiving end of defeats against Australia and South Africa. Nothing less than a win will do for Sri Lanka to keep their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals alive.
England’s strengths:
England's bowlers have developed the knack of picking early wickets. They tend to trouble the opposition batters in the Powerplay. Against West Indies, Bangladesh and Australia, the English bowlers picked 4, 3 and 3 wickets respectively in the first 6 overs of the opposition innings. Once the opposition tends to lose early wickets, it slows down their run rate. England skipper Eoin Morgan would be hoping that this trend continues against Sri Lanka as well.
England’s weaknesses:
Although the team is looking formidable, an area of concern could be England’s middle order. The middle order comprising of Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan and Liam Livingstone has hardly got much time to bat in the middle in England’s three matches so far. The bulk of the runs have been scored by the top order batters. So if Sri Lankan bowlers can deal with England’s top order, then they could make life tough for the rest of the batters.
Sri Lanka’s strengths:
Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanka will be banking on his spinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana to come up with strong bowling performances. Hasaranga has picked 11 wickets and bowled 22 overs at an impressive economy of 5.27. Theekshana has picked 8 wickets and has an economy of 6.05. If these two bowlers have a good game, then England batters could struggle.
Sri Lanka’s weaknesses:
Sri Lanka have shown that they tend to lose early wickets. Against Namibia, Ireland, Netherlands, and Bangladesh, Sri Lanka lost 3, 3, 2, 1 wickets, respectively. It is only in their previous two games against Australia and South Africa, that the team seemed to have addressed the issue. The loss of early wickets remains the team's biggest issue. In a must-win game like this one, this issue should be taken care of.
Head-to-head
Matches played: 12
England wins: 8
Sri Lanka wins: 4
Form Guide:
England: W-W-W-W-W
Sri Lanka: L-L-W-W-W
Pitch and conditions
Of the seven T20 World Cup matches played at Sharjah, five have been won by the team batting second. The average first innings total of those seven games is 135.42. The evening will mostly be cloudy and humid. The temperature will be around 26 degrees Celsius with the humidity level at around 80 per cent.
Team News
No injury scares for either team.
Deccan Herald’s Dream XI
Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Kusal Perera, Eoin Morgan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes, Tymall Mills
Impact player for England
Jos Buttler: England’s wicketkeeper batter destroyed the Australian bowling attack as he hammered 71 from 32 balls in the chase. Moreover, Buttler’s las four innings against Sri Lanka read 68*, 13, 73* and 66*. Buttler is in form and Sri Lankan bowlers need to come up with a plan to tackle him.
Impact player for Sri Lanka
Wanindu Hasaranga: Wanindu Hasaranga took a hat-trick in the Super 12 match against South Africa and is the joint-leading wicket-taker in the tournament - with Shakib Al Hasan - with 11 scalps and is averaging just 10.54. His knock of 71 against Ireland showed that he is very handy batter lower down the order.
Check out latest DH videos here