Rex Clementine in Bangalore

Sri Lanka are back in Bangalore, the venue where they humbled defending champions England to record one of their two wins in the 2023 World Cup campaign. Today they will meet New Zealand, who after a brilliant start to the tournament have stumbled against a few teams and are battling to  book a semi-final berth.

After the loss to Bangladesh in Delhi, Sri Lanka are in danger zone as they can not afford to finish ninth or tenth and if they do, there won’t be a Champions Trophy slot for them in 2025.

This should never have been the case for the former champions. Poor selections, horrible batting, toothless bowling and dropped catches have all come to hurt them.

Clive Lloyd once said, ‘catches win matches. Clearly, Sri Lankans aren’t fans of the former West Indian captains’ theory. They have grassed 16 catches this tournament and by far have been the worst fielding team. Add to that being the sloppiest team as well. They are all prepared to cry and grumble at the drop of a hat. This indeed has been a shambolic campaign.

While it is important for Sri Lanka to finish the tournament on a high, a win will bolster their chances of going through to the Champions Trophy.

Bangalore is a superb venue. It’s in the heart of the city and houses India’s National Cricket Academy. The ground though is not so big and the wicket is flat and usually games here produce high scoring results.

Sri Lanka’s problem with the batting has been that they have not clicked as a unit. When the top order has clicked the middle order has flopped and vice-versa.

Left-arm quick Dilshan Madushanka is the leading wicket taker in the tournament so far with 21 wickets to his credit. But he has got little support from rest of the bowlers.

There are complaints from the Sri Lankan camp that some of their leading bowlers are injured. Agreed. But whose fault is that? You were faced with a similar scenario last year and you have failed pathetically to address the issue.

This coaching staff has been an utter failure. They have not been able to prepare the team for an event as big as the World Cup. After this game, all of them should go home, barring maybe Head Coach Chris Silverwood.

As for New Zealand, they started off the campaign with a bang winning four out of four but since then they have lost four straight games. This is a do or die encounter for them.

New Zealand (From):

Kane Williamson (Captain), Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee and Will Young.

Sri Lanka (From):

Kusal Mendis (Captain), Kusal Perera, Pathum Nissanka, Dushmantha Chameera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Kasun Rajitha, Angelo Mathews, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushan Hemantha and Chamika Karunaratne.

Umpires:

Adrian Holdstock (RSA) and Joel Wilson (WI)

Third Umpire:

Richard Kettleborough (ENG)

Match Referee:

Javagal Srinath (IND)