New Zealand will lock horns with Sri Lanka in a ‘do-or-die’ game on Thursday in Bengaluru. The Blackcaps who commenced the ICC World Cup 2023 with an empathic win against defending champions England (win by 9 wickets) seemed all set to dominate the tournament. However, now they are on the deg of getting eliminated if they lose this particular game. As of now they have scored 8 points from as many games and are currently intimidated by teams like Pakistan and Afghanistan for the fourth position.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has had a below-average tournament this year as they have only won two games so far out of 8 matches. They are standing at the bottom of the points table along with the Netherlands. Both New Zealand and Sri Lanka have faced each other in 101 ODIs so far where the Black Caps have sealed victories 51 times while Sri Lanka 41 times. 8 matches ended with no results while 1 match ended in a tie. The last time when both faced each other in an ODI game was back in March 2023 where New Zealand won the game by 6 wickets.
As far as the World Cup is concerned, a total of 11 games have been played between both the teams where Sri Lanka holds a better record with 6 wins while New Zealand have won 5 times. The game between New Zealand and Sri Lanka is set to take place at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru which has always been known as a batters’ paradise because of the small boundaries.
Squads:
New Zealand World Cup squad: Kane Williamson (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (vc & wk), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, James Neesham, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson
Sri Lanka World Cup squad: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis (c & wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dushan Hemantha, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Perera (wk), Chamika Karunaratne, Lahiru Kumara, Dunith Wellalage