Match No. 39, of the T20 World Cup 2022, where England vs Sri Lanka will be played on Saturday, in Sydney.
When the two teams square off in Sydney on Saturday, England must defeat Sri Lanka to maintain their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 destiny in their own hands. Right now, the equation is rather straightforward for both of these parties. The winner of this game will have a chance to advance to the semifinals, while the loser will be eliminated from contention for a spot in the “final four.”
With regard to points, England is tied with New Zealand and Australia. Their NRR of 0.547 is higher than Australia’s NRR of -0.304 but significantly lower than New Zealand’s NRR of 2.233. It would undoubtedly come down to NRR if all three clubs prevail in their respective final games. As previously said, New Zealand is clearly in the lead in this regard.
To maintain its lead on NRR, England will need to defeat Sri Lanka by at least 10 runs on Saturday if Australia scores 180 and defeats Afghanistan by 60 runs on Friday. Accordingly, the margin of victory needs to be at least 50 runs for England to maintain its lead. When England plays the last game in the group, they will be well aware of what they must do.
However, if England loses against Sri Lanka, they will almost surely be eliminated even if Australia and New Zealand lose their last games because they are well behind New Zealand on NRR and in such a case Sri Lanka will surpass the group on points.
The only team in this group with the same amount of points in Sri Lanka. They can only advance if they defeat England and if either New Zealand or Australia lose at least one of their final games. Sri Lanka will be eliminated if their match against England is postponed because of their NRR, which is so much behind that of New Zealand.
Performance thus far
It was lucky for Sri Lanka to get to play four complete games. However, they haven’t been able to fully benefit from it. They had a strong nine-wicket victory over Ireland to start their Super 12 campaign, but they then suffered humiliating losses to Australia and New Zealand.
Wanindu Hasaranga and Dhananjaya de Silva, however, motivated Sri Lanka to victory over the Afghans, moving the side up to third place in group 1. With a six-wicket victory over Afghanistan, the Lions maintained their chances of making it to the semi-finals. Wanindu Hasaranga spearheaded an effective bowling performance.
The DLS Method loss to Ireland and the postponed match against Australia have cost England three points from their first four games, making it win-or-bust time for Jos Buttler and his team.
But the Three Lions overcame New Zealand by 20 runs in their most recent match. When England chose to bat first, Buttler took the initiative and hammered a 47-ball 73 to propel his team to a challenging 179/6 in 20 overs.
In response, New Zealand could only manage 159/6 in 20 overs. With his 36-ball 72, Glenn Phillips gave England some nervous moments as he and captain Kane Williamson shared a third-wicket partnership of 91 runs. The Kiwis however fell short of the English total despite their best efforts.
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Head-to-Head Prediction England Vs Sri Lanka
The English have won nine of the last 14 meetings between the two teams, while Sri Lanka has won four. These two teams faced off against each other five times during the men’s T20 World Cup, with the European team coming out on top four times to the Asian team’s one victory.
The most recent match between the two teams occurred in the 2021 edition, in which the Three Lions won by a score of 26 runs against the Lankans.
Key Players in the England Vs Sri Lanka Match
Wanindu Hasaranga (Sri Lanka) For Sri Lanka, Wanindu Hasaranga is an important player with the ball. In the middle overs, the wrist-spinner provides them control, and he will try to do the same in this game as well. With 13 wickets in six games, averaging 13.5, he has taken the most in the competition.
The Sri Lankan all-rounder has only scored 16 runs in five innings at an average of four, so his batting performances haven’t exactly lit up the competition, but he is still a more than good batsman. He has a T20I career best of 71, and when he gets going, he tends to score quickly.
Jos Buttler (England): Jos Buttler, the captain of England’s T20I team, has acknowledged that it is crucial to play the waiting game in T20Is while still keeping up with the scoring rate.
His confidence stems from his six-hitting prowess (he has 101 to his credit), which was on full display during IPL 2022, in which he struck four hundred and took home the Orange Cap for leading the league in runs scored with 863 for Rajasthan Royals.
Buttler, who took up the England T20I captaincy when Eoin Morgan retired, is under a lot of pressure, but he is not the kind to give in to it. Buttler demonstrated in the first T20I in Perth that he enjoyed serving as captain while hitting in his regular way. Buttler will always be involved in the action, keeping wickets, starting the batting, and scoring runs quickly while captaining the team.
Predicted Playing XI
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (WK), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (C), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha
England: Jos Buttler (C & WK), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Prediction
England’s bowlers, in particular, who will prioritise precision in order to try to break the spine of Sri Lanka’s top order with early wickets regardless of whether they are bowling first or second, may certainly take advantage of Sri Lanka’s desire to win this match by a substantial margin.
It appears that England is starting to find its footing after a sluggish start, as seen by their outstanding overall performance against New Zealand. Buttler’s team will likely prove to be too strong for Sri Lanka if they maintain such standards with both bat and ball in this match.
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