Australia and Sri Lanka will face each other in the 14th game of the ODI World Cup at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. Both teams are in trouble at the points table. Australia has lost both games from India and South Africa, while Sri Lanka also has opened its account yet. Both are world champion teams and watching these big teams struggling makes us worry about cricket. In today’s game both teams will look for their first win in the tournament but this could only happen with one team and the other one has to face another loss.
Australia is packed with great players but they are still facing problems with their form and because of that they couldn’t manage to win a game. Sri Lanka is playing good cricket in terms of batting but they are failing in the bowling department. Against Pakistan Sri Lanka managed to score 344 but couldn’t save that big score and against South Africa Sri Lankan bowlers conceded 428 runs. It will be interesting to see how both teams will look to counter each other and which batter will score the highest runs in today’s game. Here I am predicting 3 batters for this designation.
Kusal Mendis
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Sri Lankan batting order is in safe hands with Kusal Mendis in its middle order and leading from the front. He has scored 198 runs in 2 games with 1 century and one half century. Kusal Mendis is in great form, he holds awesome records against Australia he has 453 runs against this opponent in 11 games with 4 fifty plus scores and having average of 50.33. He loves to bat against Kangaroos. He is a good player of spin but he has to face deadly Australian bowlers including Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood. Against Pakistan Kushal has scored brilliant centuries along with Samarawickrama which leads their team to set a big target in front of Pakistan and against South Africa while chasing 429 Sri Lanka manages to score 326 with the help of Mendis, Asalanka, and Shanaka’s half centuries. It will be interesting to see will Kusal Mendis manage to carry forward his form in front of Australian bowlers or not?, and if yes then he is going to be the biggest threat for Sri Lanka.
David Warner
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The Australian explosive opener is struggling to score runs at the top but he is expert in doing this he is the highest run scorer against Sri Lanka in ODI matches among active players. He is not getting good scores from the last two games but if we ignore the last game he played against South Africa he was getting a good start but unable to convert them into big scores. Sri Lankan bowling line up is not able to trouble much so in that case Warner is going to have a good chance to get back into his form. David Warner is one of the best batters in the world and every cricket fan wants him to score runs for his team, this could be the game his fans are waiting for.
Sadeera Samarawickrama/Steven Smith
Sadeera Samarawickrama is a talented young player with a good form, he has scored a century in the world cup and against South Africa also he got a good start but due to pressure of the score he didn’t convert his into a big score. It is going to be a challenge for him against the Australian bowling lineup but he has the potential to become the to dominate Australian team like Sangakara used to do in the past. Australia has to get rid of this Sri Lankan Batter as soon as possible because he is going to destroy Australians if he’s been able to set his foot in the ground.
Steven Smith is considered as top 4 batters in the whole world and he has played so many runs for his team, no doubt he is not in his best form but it will take only one inning for him to revive the confidence. He is a match player, he can score runs even if it’s not his day, he is very good at bothering bowler’s in the middle. He has scored one forty plus score in this tournament so Sri Lankan bowlers have to worry about him otherwise he is going to dominate in the middle.
Also read: Steve Smith: Biography, Records, Age, Height, Achievements, Family And Career Statistics
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