The super Monday of ICC T20 World Cup is here! England and Sri Lanka are set to square off against each other for an exciting game of cricket. Both the teams are in stark contrast to one another the group of death. Eoin Morgan’s England are dominating Group A with their three straight wins in a row.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, are trembling with two defeats in a row, walking on a thin rope to book a berth in the semi-finals. Dasun Shanaka and his Sri Lankan Co have only two points in their tally with only one win against Bangladesh.
England are the favourites to win the game. Their current red-hot form will perhaps be too much for the Lankan side to handle. The way England is dismantling batters and bowlers of opposition will certainly be a matter of concern to the Lankan side. England have won all their three games of Super-12, defeating reigning champions West Indies, Bangladesh, and Australia so far.
For Sri Lanka, it has been a completely different picture after three straight wins in the group stage. After securing a comfortable win in the first game against Bangladesh in Super-12, their campaign got derailed as they suffered defeats against South Africa and Australia. If Sri Lanka are hoping to qualify for the semi-finals, this will be a must-win game for them.
Handling English batters
English batters have ripped apart every bowling line-up they have faced. The latest example is the way their openers Jos Buttler and Jason Roy outplayed the Australian bowling attack comprising Josh Hazelwood and Mitchell Starc. Bangladesh and West Indies bowlers too had no clue against the England batters. They tried their best to bowl with proper line and length but all their efforts went in vain. Sri Lankan bowlers Dusmanta Chameera, Wanindu Hasaranga will have a huge role to play if they want to clinch the game.
England bowlers on cloud nine
From match one, England bowlers Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid are on cloud nine. In their very first match, they bundled out power-packed side West Indies for only 55 runs. Against Bangladesh, they allowed the Tigers to score only 124 runs, picking up 9 wickets in the lop-sided contest.
And who can forget England's lethal bowling display against the dominant Aussies? The Aaron Finch-led side managed to notch up a mere 125 runs on the board. Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills are anchoring the English bowling attack with their experience while spinner Adil Rashid is cleaning up the batters with his spin web.
Big gaps to fill for Sri Lanka
The 2014 T20 champions have big gaps to fill in their batting and bowling departments. Sri Lankan batters are not performing consistently, causing much trouble to the team. Small partnerships, inconsistency while batting, lose shots, and throwing wickets in crunch situations haven't worked for Sri Lanka in their last two games.
On the bowling front, no other bowler apart from Wanindu Hasaranga has bowled well in the Super-12 matches. That’s the reason behind Sri Lanka's lacklustre performance in the marquee event so far.
A par score enough?
Sharjah wicket is something that has not been high-scoring except in one or two games. Sri Lanka have played three matches here in this World Cup and they know the conditions well enough. But with the kind of batters England have in their line-ups, Sri Lanka need to score more than 140 to 150 runs to challenge a power-packed English opposition If the Lankans are chasing, their bowlers will have to restrict the opposition to a modest total.
