Sri Lanka are the defending champions of the Cricket T20 World Cup but they are nothing like the side that won this tournament in Bangladesh two years ago. This is a team in transition but that hasn’t lowered the expectations any so it will be interesting to see how they cope at this level.
Form
Sri Lanka will have been disappointed to bomb out of the Asia Cup as early as they did but that might only have added to the motivation to do well in this tournament. They shouldn’t have needed any extra motivating though because they are the defending champions after all.
Any side that loses Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena is always going to struggle in the initial term but when you factor in Lasith Malinga has been injured for much of the time too the spin of the side which won this competition have been missing and any team would fare the same way.
Key men
Tillakaratne Dilshan’s form coming into this tournament was best described as patchy. If you was being a real critic you would call it awful but he remains a key player for this Sri Lanka outfit. He is still capable of taking attacks apart at the top of the order, will be called upon to contribute with his tidy off spin and he’s a demon fielder still. He needs to go well for Sri Lanka to go well.
Lasith Malinga’s fitness is all too often a question these days but he is a huge player for the side still. He has retired the captaincy which I don’t think is a bad thing. He can just focus on staying fit and bowling which is important. It remains to be seen how much of the tournament Malinga will play but he’ll be a big player in the time he does feature.
Fixtures
Thu Mar 17 – Super 10 Group 1: Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka (Kolkata)
Sun Mar 20 – Super 10 Group 1: Sri Lanka vs West Indies (Bangalore)
Sat Mar 26 – Super 10 Group 1: England vs Sri Lanka (Delhi)
Mon Mar 28 – Super 10 Group 1: South Africa vs Sri Lanka (Delhi)
Stats
Overall T20I record: P80 W45 L33 T1 NR1
Last 10 results (most recent last): LLLWLLWLLL
Record vs group opponents:
Vs Afghanistan: Never met
Vs England: P6 W4 L2
Vs South Africa: P5 W2 L3
Vs West Indies: P8 W6 L2
Record batting first: P44 W28 L16
Record batting second: P36 W17 L17 T1 NR1
Odds
Tournament odds: 33/1 (General)
Group 1 odds: 17/2 (Paddy Power)
Team bets
Dilshan is a big player for this Sri Lanka outfit but you couldn’t possibly back him on form grounds. Dinesh Chandimal does a lot in this T20 side if he opens the batting as he keeps wicket too so maybe the Top Sri Lanka Tournament Batsman market could be won by someone slightly further down the batting order.
That man could be Lahiru Thirimanne who will be looking to make the most of a recall to the side for this tournament. He has been batting at three in the warm up matches and bagged a couple of eye catching scores in the 40s. That is decent form and given that he’s likely to remain in the top three he could well have the likes of Angelo Mathews and Milinda Siriwardana covered overall.
Back L.Thirimanne Top Sri Lanka Tournament Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 7.00 with Paddy Power
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