• New Zealand has had a good start to the tournament in terms of fatigue
• After crushing Australia in Sydney, they flew to Melbourne for their encounter against Afghanistan, but the weather forced the cancellation of play
• Of course, they would have loved to play that game, but they haven’t had to deal with insane schedules or significant time zone shifts

While all is going on, Sri Lanka has been tossed around and is in a bit of a mess when it arrives at Sydney. They had begun their season in Geelong during the qualifiers, and since then, they have suffered three fast bowler injuries. They were then playing a match in Hobart three days after the qualifying were through. They played Australia in Perth two days later. They have now been launched back over the entire continent to Sydney. By the way, there appears to be some concern inside the side regarding their schedule. Their following game is on Tuesday in Brisbane. They return to Sydney after that.

Though perhaps more significantly, Sri Lanka has a history of using its propensity for finding grievance in high-profile missions as a weapon to bludgeon their way to successful outcomes. Examples include the 2014 T20 World Cup, the T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2019, the 2019 Test Tours of South Africa, and of course the 1996 World Cup. However, they are up against a team that appears to be much more composed and well-drilled than they are.

New Zealand has only lost three games out of the 13 that have been finished this year. They have a superior seam attack for Australian conditions, a nuclear top order, and good firepower through the middle. While this is going on, Sri Lanka’s middle order is barely getting by, and after Tuesday’s defeat to Australia, their attack appears more weak.

To overcome their cricketing and fatigue-related challenges, Sri Lanka must dig deep and develop new tools. New Zealand only needs to expand on their current efforts.

Form manual

WLWWW New Zealand (completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka LWWWL

Getting attention

It’s well known that players like Trent Boult, Tim Southee, and Lockie Ferguson are adept at turning it on, but Mitchell Santner, who has put up some outstanding stats this year, shouldn’t be overlooked. He bowled three for thirty-one against Australia during the powerplay and the middle innings. He has taken 17 wickets in 12 T20I matches this season, at an economy rate of 6.69.
Wanindu Hasaranga doesn’t typically get destroyed, but in the most recent game, he did, going for 0 for 53 from his three overs as he constantly attempted to toss the ball up and get Australia’s batsmen caught in Perth’s expansive outfield but failed. His bowling wasn’t quite suited to Perth’s bouncer of a pitch, but Sydney, where Sri Lanka’s spinners have performed well in the past, may be a good fit. He rarely has consecutive poor games.

Pitch and circumstances

Thankfully, the weather looks fine in Sydney after two games were postponed on Friday due to rain. The short boundary will face in the opposite direction from the first game New Zealand played here, and the field will be brand-new for this encounter. So far in the competition, the SCG has generally provided the best batting surface.

Team

Pramod Madushan is most likely to replace Binura Fernando, the third Sri Lankan player to be eliminated from the competition.

1 Kusal Mendis (wk), 2 Pathum Nissanka, 3 Dhananjaya de Silva, 4 Charith Asalanka, 5 Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Chamika Karunaratne, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Pramod Madushan, 11 Lahiru Kumara are the likely Sri Lankan starters.

To replace Mark Chapman, New Zealand plans to bring in Daryl Mitchell.

1 Finn Allen, 2 Devon Conway (wk), 3 Kane Williamson (capt.), 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Jimmy Neesham, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Ish Sodhi, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Trent Boult are the likely New Zealand starters.

Statistics and trivia

With 636 runs from 21 innings, Pathum Nissanka has scored the fourth-most runs in T20Is so far this season. However, the strike rate for those runs was only 111.
Santner’s previous favourite opponents included Sri Lanka. In five games against them, he has seven wickets at a strike rate of 6.26.
Against Sri Lanka, New Zealand has played in ten T20Is and lost seven. But in T20 World Cups, Sri Lanka has a 4-1 advantage despite not playing in this tournament since 2014.

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