The World Cup is back and the excitement is soaring high! We saw the opening fixture of New Zealand taking their revenge against England from the 2019 final loss with Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra tearing away the English bowling and winning by 9 wickets with 13.4 overs to spare, one of the highest margins of victory between the sides. Then we saw Pakistan taking on the Netherlands.
Now, we will be looking into the preview of one of the underdogs of the tournament and a strong contender for keeping their hands on the silverware, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
South Africa: South Africa were dealt a big blow when their express pacer Anrich Nortje was ruled out of the WC squad due to injury and Rabada missed a great partner to work in tandem. Lizaad Williams replaced him and it is the first WC appearance for the player. South Africa has one of the best spin duo in Maharaj and Shamsi and would be ably supported by part-timer Aiden Markram. Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada along with young sensation Gerald Coetzee would be heading the pace attack with Lungi Ngidi playing second fiddle. In the batting front, Temba Bavuma at the top has been exceptionally good and would be hoping to continue his form coming to the WC. Since this is the last WC for Quinton de Kock as he had announced his retirement, he would be raring to go all guns blazing. Heinrich Klaasen, who has been in red-hot form in the past few months in white ball cricket, would be waiting to showcase his prowess and continue his form. Aiden Markram, one of the best white ball players, would be making all the opportunity to keep his hands on the coveted trophy.
Sri Lanka: The champions of the 1996 WC led by Arjuna Ranatunga had their chance during the 2011 WC led by Sangakkara wherein despite the heroics of Mahel Jayawardene, they faltered albeit the fight given by Gambhir and Dhoni. Post the 2011 WC debacle, Sri Lanka has gone down too much and is now fighting tooth and nail in every ICC tournament. They had to play the qualifiers wherein they qualified for the Final defeated the Netherlands and entered the 9th team to the ICC World Cup 2023. Sri Lanka had chopped and changed many captains until they found an able leader in Dasun Shanaka who has been giving the best vibe for the team to collect themselves and perform. Pathum Nissanka, the young, prolific opener is the man who would be watched in this WC. He, along with Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka would be the players who would be steadying the ship for the Lankans. Dimuth Karunaratne, the test captain of the Lankan team, has been recalled to the squad and would be fighting for the spot with Kusal Perera for the number 3 spot. Matheesha Pathirana, the young slinga-malinga, would be wanting to show his prowess for his first WC and make an impression for the future editions of the WC. Maheesh Theekshana, the lead spinner would be pairing with recent sensation Dunith Wellalage and would be spinning a web across the opposition batters in the absence of senior Wanindu Hasaranga who has missed the WC due to injury. With Dushmantha Chameera missing out, Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha would be the leaders of the pace attack and would need to step up big time. This Lankan team would be a team to watch out as they would act as dark horses.
Probable Playing XI:
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (WK), Temba Bavuma (C), Rassie Van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Tarbraiz Shamsi, Gerald Coetzee / Lungi Ngidi
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (WK), Dimuth Karunaratne / Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Chamika Karunaratne, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Kasun Rajitha / Lahiru Kumara.
Interesting Facts and Stats:
(*) Klaasen (119.91) and Miller (114.16) have the 2 highest strikes among participating players since the last World Cup (Min 700 runs)
(*) South Africa faced Sri Lanka 6 times in the World Cup, beating them 4 times and losing once. Last time they faced each other in the World Cup 2019, where South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by 9 wickets.
(*) In the 80 ODI matches the two teams have played against each other, South Africa won 45, Sri Lanka won 33, and two matches were inconclusive.
Players to watch out (Credits : www.cnbctv18.com):
Aiden Markram:
The former South African captain has hit 1665 runs in 55 matches averaging 35.42 with a strike rate of 96.35. He has hit two tons and seven half-centuries in his ODI career. In the bilateral series against Australia, Markram amassed 225 runs in five matches. Markram’s ability to bowl overs quickly in the middle overs will be an added advantage to South Africa.
Kusal Mendis:
The Sri Lankan wicket-keeper batsman scored 270 runs in six matches in the Asia Cup 2023 including three half-centuries. Mendis has lost his wicket in the nineties twice in the two matches where he scored his fifties. He has scored 3215 runs in 112 matches with an average of 32.15 and a strike rate of 84.44. Mendis has hit 25 half-centuries and 2 centuries in ODIs and will look to add more centuries to his stats during the World Cup.
Pitch, Weather, Toss and Venue (Credits: www.cnbctv18.com):
The average score in the 28 ODI matches held in the Arun Jaitley stadium, Delhi is 223 which suggests a low-scoring match between the two teams on Saturday.
It is going to be a warm day in Delhi for the two teams as the temperature is likely to hover between 31°C-35°C during the match. The sky is expected to be clear and the rains would not cause any interruption.
Date: 7th October, 2023
Time: 2:00 PM IST
Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
Dream XI Team:
