Tuesday’s action in the ICC Cricket World Cup sees Afghanistan clash with Sri Lanka at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff; a game which both sides will view as very winnable.
Afghanistan:
Afghanistan proved no match for Australia in their first match of the tournament at Bristol on Saturday, going down by 7 wickets. They won the toss and opted to bat first but the decision backfired with both openers removed without scoring. Number 3 bat Rahmat Shah offered resistance with 43 and further down the order Najibullah Zadran top scored with 51 as Afghanistan were bowled out for 207 in 38.2 of their 50 overs.
Australia made no mistake, putting on 96 for their first stick and although Afghanistan took 3 wickets the chase was completed in 34.5 overs.
This was how Afghanistan lined up against Australia.
Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib (capt), Rashid Khan, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Hamid Hassan, Dawlat Zadran
Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka’s first action of the tournament came at this venue on Saturday and they were on the end of an even bigger hiding, losing to New Zealand by 10 wickets. Sri Lanka lost the toss and were asked to bat first and they lost a wicket to the second ball of the first over. That really set the tone and although skipper and opening bat Karunaratne made an unbeaten 52 only two other Sri Lankan’s made it to double figures as they were bowled out for just 136 in 29.2 overs.
New Zealand showed there were no gremlins in the batting surface as they crashed off the chase in just 16.1 overs without losing a wicket.
This was how Sri Lanka lined up for their opening match against New Zealand.
Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Perera (wkt), Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Suranga Lakmal, Isuru Udana, Lasith Malinga
Head to Head
The teams have met 3 times with 2 wins for Sri Lanka and 1 for Afghanistan.
The most recent meeting came in Abu Dhabi in September 2018 and Afghanistan won by 91 runs after bowling Sri Lanka out for just 158.
In the 2015 World Cup pool stage Sri Lanka chased down 233 for victory in Dunedin for a 4 wicket win and in 2014 the first meeting between the teams saw Sri Lanka win by 129 runs in Dhaka.
The Betting, Click here for all markets
Afghanistan 21/20
Sri Lanka 8/10
Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.
Verdict:
Sri Lanka are in a terrible run of form and as the match result betting suggests they could be vulnerable here. Afghanistan need to reflect on whether they were too ambitious against Australia, opting to bat first when most sides have preferred to chase and despite scoring pretty quickly they left more than 11 overs out there.
It looks a tricky one to call so we look outside of the match result for a betting interest.
Karunaratne came through for us as top Sri Lanka bat at the weekend. He was also in the runs in the warm up matches with 87 at this venue in a heavy defeat to the Proteas and right now he looks the most reliable of an underperforming batting unit.
Suggested Bets:
Top Away Batsman Karunaratne at 7/2
Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.
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