SRI LANKA SEEK RESURGENCE AGAINST PROMISING AFGHANISTAN
After being comprehensively beaten on all three fronts in their opening game against New Zealand, Sri Lanka will hope for a much improved performance when they take on the dark horses Afghanistan in the seventh match of the ICC Cricket World Cup at Cardiff, Wales today.
Sri Lanka did not have the ideal start to their World Cup campaign, as they lost by 10 wickets to New Zealand.
None of the batsmen could support Captain Dimuth Karunaratne who carried his bat with an unbeaten 52 as Sri Lanka folded for a disappointing 136 runs.
Their bowlers, despite having very little to play with, also proved ineffective, finishing wicketless as New Zealand sealed the chase in 16 overs.
Sri Lanka’s batting unit has now failed to last the full 50 overs on two separate occasions, including once in the warm-ups and will have to pull itself up against a
well-rounded Afghanistan attack.
Likewise, Karunaratne will expect his fast bowlers to exploit the conditions, and the opposition’s weakness against the moving white ball early in the innings.
Afghanistan were shored up by lower order contributions against Australia, which was a great positive but Skipper Gulbadin Naib would hope someone from the top order can hold the innings together.(icc)