The group stage of the Champions Trophy ends on Monday and it does so with a straight knockout match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Cardiff. The winner will remain here to play England in the semi-final on Wednesday while the loser will be saying goodbye to the tournament so it is a huge clash.
We’ve seen shocks galore in this competition thus far and that will have both sides on edge going into this match but whoever wins will be just two more wins from glory.
Sri Lanka
There may be an element of the Sri Lankan minds which will be annoyed that they are not already through. I say that because they were in a fantastic position to beat South Africa in their opening match but they couldn’t get over the line. Had they done so then their win over India in their second match would have seen them through.
Sri Lanka have bowled pretty well in the main in this tournament especially in the first 40 overs of both innings and if they do that again here they will give themselves every chance of getting the win they need. If they bat like they did against India at The Oval then they are going to be very tough to beat.
Pakistan
If you had said after Pakistan’s first match that they would give themselves a chance of going through by winning their second one you would have got plenty of strange looks. They were awful in every single department against India but credit needs to be given were it is due they were equally as good with the ball against South Africa.
The win over South Africa was very good but the concerns over that win was that although they were in front when the rain came the match was still balanced and we don’t know for sure that they would have gone on to win. If their batting performance against India was anything to go by they wouldn’t have done.
Team News
Sri Lanka were already without Upul Tharanga through suspension and now they are with Kusal Perera whose hamstring gave up on him in the last match. Dhananjaya de Silva could come in for him.
Pakistan are not expected to change a winning formula although if they did want to change anything then Faheem Ashraf could come in. He would bolster their batting too which makes him a genuine option.
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Betting
It isn’t very often we get to the last group match of a tournament with everything on the line but that is the case here and I like Sri Lanka to come through this match. I give all the credit in the world to Pakistan for beating South Africa last time out but I’d have loved to have seen if they would have won had the game reached a full conclusion.
Sri Lanka haven’t been too bad at all in this tournament and but for 20 crazy overs with the bat against South Africa they could have had this group in the palm of their hands. That isn’t the case but they still have a chance to go through and with the calmness and assurance of Angelo Mathews both in the field and in their middle order I fancy they’ll be the more certain to play well so 11/10 on them suits me.
I’ll also take one in the top Sri Lanka batsman market where Paddy Power have got the price of Asela Gunaratne all wrong. He is going to move up a spot in the order with Perera sidelined and we saw against India that he is hitting the ball really sweetly. Should anything happen to Mendis and Mathews, Gunaratne will be primed to take advantage and do so at a ludicrous price.
Tips
Back Sri Lanka to beat Pakistan for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back them here:
Back A.Gunaratne Top Sri Lanka Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 31.00 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
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