New Zealand vs Sri Lanka Predictions: New Zealand to win the series

New Zealand will welcome Sri Lanka in the third and final game of the three-game ODI series held at Seddon Park. New Zealand was on a whole different level in the first game of the series and now leads the three-game series by 1-0, Sri Lanka can only draw the series after the second one was washed out. Who will win?

The black caps are going into the game on the back of six back-to-back wins in the ODIs. They won the first game of the series by a huge margin of 198 runs. Nine of the first team members of New Zealand will not be playing in this game and the series as they have travelled for IPL. The squad is young and ready to make a name for themselves in the upcoming ODI world cup and they had their say in the first game. After scoring 274 runs in their 50 overs, New Zealand bowlers impressively bowled out Sri Lankans for only 76 runs. Shipley was the star performer with his five wickets. The second game was washed out due to rain. The Kiwis will be looking for pretty much the same in the third and final game of the series and win the series to continue their streak.  

Finn Allen, Chad Bowes, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (c), Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Blair Tickner/Ben Lister, Henry Shipley, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi

Sri Lanka came going into the series with the motivation of getting direct entry to the 50-over World Cup which will be played this year. They lost the first game and after the second game got washed out they will have to play a qualifying game to make it to the World cup 2023. The Sri Lankans have won only one of their last six games. The team will be looking to get some momentum going into the T20 series. Wanindu Hasaranga will again be the go-to bowler for captain Shanaka when looking for wickets and hopefully, restrict the kiwi batters to low scores in the last game. The Sri Lankan batting order is deep and they will have to put the woes of the first ODI defeat behind them and get the job done and level up the series.

Pathum Nissanka, Nuwanidu Fernando, Kusal Mendis (wk), Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya De Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha, Maheesh Theekshana

The Oval pitch has offered great assistance to the bowlers in the white ball cricket format. We can expect low totals on this pitch as both the sides have good bowlers in their ranks and the pitch will favour them. Win the toss to bowl will be the way ahead for the two captains. Any score over 250 is defendable on this pitch. Expect a low-scoring game at this venue and New Zealand are the favourites to win the game