It’s an unusual place to be. The penultimate week of a World Cup is usually about teams looking to peak if not qualify for the semifinals. But in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, we have two sides coming in with seven consecutive defeats between them. So even if you factor out New Zealand needing a win to stay in contention for the last remaining semifinal spot, or Sri Lanka needing a win to stay in contention for Champions Trophy qualification, a win will still be at a premium.
But as you’d expect, there’s a twist. Whether there will be a winner at all is currently up for debate. It’s been raining on and off in Bengaluru in the lead-up to the match, with two of New Zealand’s optional training sessions interrupted by sharp showers. Looking back, you wouldn’t blame them for thinking that it never stopped raining in the city since Saturday, when Fakhar Zaman’s century thrust Pakistan ahead of the DLS par score and rendered New Zealand’s total in excess of 400 all but redundant.
On Thursday, Kane Williamson and Co. will be back at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to play yet another World Cup match, hoping that it isn’t “one of those days” this time around. Of course, a gap in their itinerary would have helped make sense of things but the build-up couldn’t have been more contrasting for Kusal Mendis’s side.
Only a couple of days ago, Sri Lanka lost their first-ever World Cup match to Bangladesh. And as if that wasn’t enough food for thought in the days to follow, Angelo Mathews’s timed-out dismissal, his frustration and his time-stamped proofs on social media constituted some great political football across mediums. Is that the spark the team might need? Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan spoke of how appealing for the time-out and then standing by his decision spurred the “warrior” in him, and Sri Lanka will hope that it’s something similar for Mathews who’s also 36 and hasn’t had the kind of tournament that he perhaps merits.
When: New Zealand vs Sri Lanka, on November 9, 2023 at 2:00 pm local
Where: M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
What to expect: Some stoppages in play. The pitch for this game is a little to the side of the square, so the spinners might face an even more uphill battle at a venue that’s been unkind to them. Of all the ten World Cup venues this time, Chinnaswamy Stadium has the worst average and strike-rate for spinners.
Team Watch
New Zealand
Kane Williamson spoke how it’s the first time that the entire available squad is fit, or “fit-ish”. Expect Lockie Fergson to come in for Ish Sodhi, who had a hard time against Pakistan. That said, Kyle Jamieson had a long bowl in the nets at New Zealand’s optional training on match eve.
Tactics & Strategy
New Zealand went in with just two frontline seamers in their last match, expecting that “spin would be perhaps most threatening.” What panned out couldn’t be farther from that. Ish Sodhi gave away 44 runs in the four overs he bowled against Pakistan and Rachin Ravindra’s part-time spin wasn’t even called upon. Even someone in as good a rhythm as Mitchell Santner went at 7 runs per over. It’s likely that fit-again Lockie Ferguson would slot back right in and partner pace-bowling duties with Trent Boult and Tim Southee.
Probable XI: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson(c), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, Trent Boult
Sri Lanka
For their last match, Sri Lanka brought in Kusal Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva into the side and are likely to stick with the same combination at what’s another high-scoring ground.
Tactics & Strategy
Dilshan Madushanka has been a force with the new ball, picking the second most number of wickets in first PowerPlay this tournament, but it’s in the middle overs that Sri Lanka have let games slip. Their spinners have fared the worst out of all ten teams. And this time around, they will have their work cut out against Rachin Ravindra, who has scored the most runs in the middle overs (11-40) in this edition.
Probable XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis(w/c), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka
Did you know?
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Average first innings score in ODIs in Bengaluru since 2013 is 321
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In the ongoing World Cup, only Marco Jansen has more wickets (12) than Madushanka in overs 1-10
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The previous game at the venue saw an overall match run-rate of 7.96
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NZ have won each of the last seven ODIs against SL and last lost to SL in World Cups in 2011
What they said
“We sort of knew the talent was there, but to come out and repeat and be one of the players of the tournament so far, not only with the bat, but he’s also making really valuable contributions with the ball. Yeah, very, very special player and great that he’s on our side” – New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is all praise for Rachin Ravindra
“When you look at the bigger picture, we made mistakes in all three departments in most of the games. Our fielding was not up to the mark and whenever we batted, we didn’t bowl well” – Sri Lanka Assistant Coach Naveed Nawaz with an honest assessment
