The ODI series between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan continues on Sunday when the two sides meet for the second time in Hambantota, with the tourists having the first of two opportunities to claim the series for themselves.
I think it is fair to say that the series as a whole isn’t the priority for Sri Lanka, they would much rather qualify for the World Cup over the next month, but were they to win this series they would carry some confidence into the qualifier with them.
Sri Lanka
In many ways we saw in the opening ODI why Sri Lanka are having to go to Zimbabwe later in the month and looking to qualify for the World Cup deeper into the year. They just couldn’t build any partnerships of note with the bat and ended up coming up short in terms of runs and then their lack of quality bowling depth was pretty ruthlessly exposed. They can’t really do anything about the latter at the minute but the former certainly can be worked on.
To be fair, Sri Lanka have struggled with the bat for too long. They have either delivered plenty or failed to maximise their overs and if they are going to be at the World Cup they are going to need to find some batting partnerships. There are bowlers to come back from missing that opening game which should boost that area of the game but if they can’t win on home soil then they have no real divine right to win away from Sri Lanka.
Afghanistan
When you consider that Afghanistan were without their star man in Rashid Khan for that opening match, they will be delighted to come away with a win. It is the sign of an improving team when it can be missing its talisman but others step up and are counted when it really matters so that is certainly something that bodes well for the tourists. Their task now is to put successive wins together more often and build a confidence and a fear factor around themselves.
Were they to do that here then they would win the series which would be another thing which should give them plenty of confidence. The positive thing for Afghanistan from that opening match is that as well as having Rashid Khan to come back later in the series, there is probably even more to come from them with the bat should they need it. The other thing to take from that match is that they never allowed Sri Lanka to get away from them with the ball even without Rashid.
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Team News
Lahiru Kumara left the field midway through the opening ODI and it looked like he had a hamstring issue so he isn’t likely to be fit for this match. Sri Lanka will be hoping that Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana and Dushmantha Chameera are available.
Rashid Khan is due to miss this second match for Afghanistan but he is expected to be fit for the final match unless it is a dead rubber in which case they might choose not to risk him. The tourists could well go in with an unchanged side here.
Betting
There were only 55 boundaries in the opening match and as I eluded to in ahead of that game I don’t expect the scoring to get any better the longer this series goes along. Sri Lanka should be strengthened in the bowling department for this one which will automatically make batting harder for Afghanistan and were they to bat first and find it more difficult then the boundaries are unlikely to flow throughout the match.
Despite there only being 55 boundaries when the pitch played as good as it is going to play in the series, the line for this match is 56.5 which just feels too high to me. The bowlers have had a run out now and will come on for the run and we’ve seen whenever the same ground hosts successive matches since it became a regular thing during and after Covid that the scores only tend to go down. I expect that to happen here and I fancy under 56.5 boundaries as a result.
Tips
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