Match 11 of the ICC Cricket World Cup sees Pakistan take on Sri Lanka at the County Ground, Bristol on Friday and after returning to form last time out Pakistan start as favourites.
Pakistan:
Pakistan’s first two matches were staged in Nottingham and they were like chalk and cheese in terms of results. They started with a 7 wicket defeat to West Indies after being bowled out for just 105 in 21.4 overs. Their second match came against tournament favourites England, Pakistan were very much the underdogs having lost a recent series to England 4-0 but they turned it all around with a 14 run victory.
The top 5 in their batting order all made useful runs against the hosts with the top scores coming from Mohammad Hafeez (84) and Babar Azam (63) as Pakistan posted a bat first total of 348/8. England were still favourites to chase it down at the innings break, Root and Buttler both made centuries but Pakistan took other key wickets cheaply and England’s innings closed on 334/9. Wahab Riaz took 3 wickets and there were 2 a piece for Amir and Shadab Khan.
Pakistan are now trading at around 18/1 to win the tournament.
Mohammad Hafeez is leading run scorer for Pakistan with 100 runs in the tournament so far, Babar Azam has a total of 85. Mohammad Amir is leading wicket taker for Pakistan with 5 and Wahab Riaz has 3.
This was how Pakistan lined up against England last time out.
Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt & wk), Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir
Sri Lanka:
Having being crushed by 10 wickets against New Zealand in their opening match Sri Lanka eventually came through a tricky looking contest against Afghanistan with a 34 run (DLS) victory at Cardiff on Tuesday. They had made just 136 against New Zealand and their batting line up was also fragile against Afghanistan as they were bowled out for 201 in 36.5 overs of a rain affected game. It would have been far worse had Kusal Perera not made 78 at the top of the order as Sri Lanka collapsed after a 92 run opening stand.
The target was revised down and Sri Lanka held their nerve with Nuwan Pradeep the star bowler, returning figures of 4/31 in his 9 overs and Sri Lanka are on the board.
Sri Lanka remain rank outsiders to win the tournament at around 150/1.
Kusal Perera is leading run scorer for Sri Lanka with 107 runs in the tournament so far, Dimuth Karunaratne has a total of 85. With the ball Nuwan Pradeep has taken 4 wickets and Malinga has 3.
This was how Sri Lanka lined up against Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Lahiru Thirimanne, Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Kusal Perera (wk), Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga
Head to Head
The teams have met 153 times with 90 wins for Pakistan, 58 for Sri Lanka with 1 tie and 4 no results.
The most recent meeting between the sides came in the UAE in October 2017 when Pakistan completed a 5-0 clean sweep. They also met in the Champions Trophy in Cardiff in June of that year and Pakistan edged it by 3 wickets and went on to lift the trophy.
The Betting, Click here for all markets
Pakistan 1 / 3
Sri Lanka 12/5
Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.
Verdict:
Sri Lanka’s batting can only improve and it will certainly need to with Pakistan having shaken off their nightmare start. This is the first match to be staged at Bristol which isn’t the biggest of grounds and preference is for a total run count of 531 or more across the 2 innings.
Additional interest comes in the shape of a Babar Azam 50.
Suggested Bets:
Total Runs In Match , over 530.5 at 9/10
Batsman to score a Fifty in the match, Babar Azam? (yes) at 27/20
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