Sri Lanka vs Netherlands Prediction: Expect a clean start for the Sri Lanka

Both Sri Lanka and the Netherlands will be playing for a spot in the main competition of the World Cup in October, and the match will be played at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. The bookmakers, however, are strongly supporting Sri Lanka, making the Netherlands the underdog. Although this does appear to be a fair matchup, I provide a detailed analysis of the game along with several viable betting possibilities. 

The Sri Lankan team will go into the match with full faith in their ability to dominate an opponent that they have beaten handily in past years. The Lions are a team that has a lot of luck on their side, so they are a heavy favorite in this matchup. We anticipate that they will perform at their highest level and be well prepared for this game, as they are hoping to get a nice boost of momentum before their next match against the United States of America.

Coming into this competition, however, it is important to highlight the fact that the Sri Lankan team are currently performing at an extremely high level. In fact, only one of their recent matches ended in defeat, and that was against Afghanistan in a match that ended 268–269, making it a very tight game. All of their other matches ended in victories, including two wins against Ireland and two victories against the Afghanistan side. In spite of this, while looking at their results from the beginning of January until about the middle of April, out of a total of fourteen games, the Lions only managed to win two of them while losing the other twelve.

In preparation for this competition, the Sri Lankan side has selected a 15-match roster, with Dasun Shanaka assuming the role of captain for this group. During the recently finished Indian Premier League (IPL), Matheesha Pathirana collected 19 wickets, which was a key factor in Chennai Super Kings winning the tournament. Also, the slingy quick bowler, who is 20 years old and quick off the mark, has been added to the traveling team after making his debut in a One-Day International just this month against Afghanistan.

The Netherlands enter this competition as the underdog in their attempt to qualify for the World Cup, but their goal will be to be a competitive side, as they have high hopes. On the other hand, there are going to be significant questions regarding how well this team can compete against a team like Sri Lanka, which did bring an entertaining performance with them here. Despite the fact that the Netherlands have never been victorious against Sri Lanka in any of their previous encounters, this match will be a significant one for them as they attempt to rewrite history and take control of their destiny.

The Netherlands are coming into this qualifying round on a poor run of four consecutive defeats, each of which came at the hands of Zimbabwe and South Africa twice. In spite of those defeats, Netherlands had won two previous matches against Zimbabwe with scores of 249-255 and 117-120, while also sneaking past South Africa in the T20 World Cup Second Stage as an underdog.

Due to their obligations with their respective national teams, several significant Netherlands players will be absent from the action in Zimbabwe. The likes of Colin Ackermann, Fred Klaassen, Paul van Meekeren, and Roelof van der Merwe will not be traveling with the Netherlands team to the ODI World Cup Qualifier that will take place in Zimbabwe over the months of June and July. Allrounder Bas de Leede, who qualified as a local to be on a two-year contract with Durham from February, has been named in the squad. This is because his clause in the deal allows him to take part in the Qualifier, which is anticipated to be a significant boost for Durham. However, fast bowlers Brandon Glover and Timm van der Gugten are also not in the 16-member squad.

Due to the fact that the Netherlands will be without numerous key players for this match, it may appear as though they have little chance of winning. Despite this, I do not believe that they will have an easy time competing against the Sri Lankan team, which has shown significant improvement in recent matches. I will not be writing this team off since I believe that they will still be able to win despite the fact that they are the underdog, and a wager on the Netherlands scoring a total of three runs is worth considering. In the meantime, Sri Lanka has been doing well as of late, and they have won each of their previous matches; therefore, I anticipate that they will also win the toss.