Sri Lanka will battle it out against the West Indies to close their World Cup campaign. Sri Lanka has lost three of the four games and has no chance of qualifying for the Semis while West Indies need to win this game and the next one to even have a shot at qualifying.
Underwhelming batting of West Indies and the late inclusion of Holder
With the way the West Indies batting unit has performed so far, it can be argued that the team has been underwhelmed in many ways. Windies have put up scores of 55, 143, 142, and thanks to Evin Lewis and Nicholas Pooran, both of whom have stepped up in two different games, the team has at least mustered something up. Gayle, Pollard, Russell, the three big hitters have looked out of sorts. Lewis has fired in one of the three innings and as a batting unit, the defending champions have portrayed a sorry picture.
Jason Holder didn’t play in the first two losses and when he came back he showed his worth with both bat and ball. His game-changing bowling spell left the Bangladeshi batters in tatters and he both choked runs and took wickets. It is still a mystery why a player of his caliber who has been in some superb form lately didn’t get a chance in prior games. Did the team call him back too late?
Weak links in bowling but a young and promising team
Despite certain losses, Sri Lankan batters with the exception of Kusal Perera have shown a lot of guts. Pathum Nissanka has played a rescue act, Charith Asalanka doesn’t have fear and manufactures shots from the first ball, Bhanuka Rajapaksa is a great stabilizing presence while Wanindu Hasranaga can hoick a few. Captain Dhanush Shanaka is decent but has not brought his A-game yet at this level. The batting shows a ton of promise and in the future, if given more chances, it can decimate oppositions.
Wanindu Hasaranga can be ranked among the top T20 bowlers in the world, his spin partner Maheesh Theekshana keeps it tight in the middle, however, it has been only these two that have largely carried the weight. Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara have shown that despite having heavy-duty pace, the pair can be taken apart by batters like David Miller and Jos Buttler who can hit out of the park. The control is lost in key moments but Lahiru is young and has a lot of room left to grow. Sri Lanka is largely composed of young players. Despite an early exit this World Cup, Sri Lanka has been the only squad to trouble red-hot England so far.