Sri Lanka hoping for semifinal miracle

The defeat to South Africa might have put an improbable qualification beyond their control, but Sri Lanka will be aiming to give it their best shot against a vibrant West Indies outfit which has nothing to lose in the World Cup.

Sri Lanka’s 20-run win over England on 21 June had well and truly opened up the competition for the semifinal spots at the World Cup. However, a painful loss to South Africa, in the very next game, has made their own qualifying chances extremely bleak. They need to win their final two matches, and hope for favourable outcomes in England and Pakistan’s next fixtures.

In their nine-wicket loss at this very venue on 28 June, their inconsistent batting came to the fore yet again. Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne would be aiming to improve that aspect against a challenging West Indian bowling attack.

The Jason Holder-led side, on the other hand, has reached the fag-end of a sorrowful campaign that has seen them win just one out of seven games. Though they have been impressive in parts, the side has failed to close out key moments in tight games. Things went downhill after a breezy seven-wicket win over Pakistan in their opening game, and they now sit just above Afghanistan in the points table, having lost out on the semifinal race.

Their batting unit has misfired more often than not, putting the onus on Lasith Malinga to deliver with the ball in clutch situations. With nine wickets in five games, seven of which came in Sri Lanka’s two wins, the veteran pacer has done his bit. With Nuwan Pradeep’s premature exit, Sri Lanka will be relying heavily on their bowling spearhead once again.

On the other hand, in the dying embers of his international career, Gayle will look to sign off from his fifth, and final, World Cup on a high. Leading the run-charts for West Indies in the tournament, the 39-year-old has shown signs of vintage form in the recent past. With no pressure of qualifying, a liberated Gayle could end up doing the damage at the top of the order.

Playing host in their first game of the tournament, the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street produced a sluggish surface in Sri Lanka’s nine-wicket loss to South Africa. Durham is expected to have clear skies on Monday, with extremely low chances of rain.

FACTS

Sri Lanka and West Indies will be playing their 57th ODI against each other. The last meeting between the two sides took place at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe when the Lankans clinched a one-run win in 2016.

The Lankas have won seven of the last nine matches between the two sides.

Sri Lanka opener Kusal Perera is the highest run-scorer between batsmen of the two sides with 174 runs in 5 matches.

Lasith Malinga is the highest wicket-taker between the two sides amongst the current crop of players. He has 16 wickets in nine matches. Windies captain Jason Holder has 9 wickets to his name.

Sri Lanka ran away as winners the last three times the sides met in a World Cup match. In 1996, the West Indies Cricket Board decided not to send their team to Sri Lanka due to security reasons and it resulted in the hosts getting 2 free points.

If Chris Gayle scores 53, he will become the Windies’ leading ODI run-getter, overtaking Brian Lara’s haul of 10,348 runs. If he scores 82, he will become the leading run-getter for the Windies in World Cups, also overtaking Lara.