World Cup 2019: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka match preview

Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be facing each other today at the Bristol County Ground in the eleventh match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. 

The match is scheduled to kick off at 2:30 pm (PST) and 10:30 am (local time). Both teams have won a match respectively in the tournament till date.

Pakistan after winning against tournament favourites England will be looking to capitalize on their batting form.  

The green shirts put forward a brilliant batting performance putting up 348 against England and winning by 14 runs. Mohammad Hafeez was the top scorer for Pakistan hitting 84 runs off 62 balls.

The Pakistani bowlers also performed up to the mark with Wahab Riaz picking up 3 wickets, proving himself as a worthy investment. Mohammad Amir and Shadab Khan followed the ladder by picking up two wickets each.

However, the ICC ranked#9 ODI team Sri Lanka after facing a shambolic defeat against New Zealand by 10 wickets were able to win their second match against Afghanistan (The match was reduced to 41 overs per side due to weather fluctuations).

Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne appeared to be in decent form as he provided a fine start to his team in both of the matches. None of the other batsmen were able to hit more than thirty runs except for Kusal Perera, who scored 78 off 81 balls against Afghanistan.

Sri Lankan batting line-up was not able to stay on the pitch for a whole fifty overs and collapsed at 136 against New Zealand and 201 against Afghanistan. 

Except for Nuwan Pradeep and Lasith Malinga, who are lethal death bowling assets for Sri Lanka, no other bowler was able to take more than a wicket against Afghanistan. Nuwan Pradeep sent four batsmen back to the pavilion whereas, the veteran Malinga took three wickets.

The Sri Lankans will be drawing on the fact that their team has made two of the last three World Cup finals and won the 1996 cricket World Cup.

Weather Conditions in Bristol

Patchy periods of heavy rain shower and a thunderstorm is expected. It will be a cool cloudy day with moderate breeze and humidity.

PAK-SL ODI Stats:

Head to head matches: 153

PAK won: 90

SL won: 58

Tied: 1

No result: 4

Highest total: 371/9 by Pakistan in 1996

Lowest total: 75/10 by Pakistan in 2009

Most runs: ST Jayasuriya (SL), 2517 runs in 82 matches (79 innings)

Most wickets: M Muralitharan (SL), 96 wickets in 65 matches (63 innings)

Pakistan’s squad for ICC World Cup 2019: Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c & wk), Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Haris Sohail, Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain

Sri Lanka’s squad for ICC World Cup 2019: Avishka Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera (wk), Thisara Perera, Nuwan Pradeep, Dhananjaya de Silva, Milinda Siriwardana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay.