South Africa and Sri Lanka will meet in the ICC Cricket World Cup match on Saturday in Delhi. This match will begin the World Cup campaign for these two countries.
Sri Lanka wasn’t one of the top eight sides which got a direct entry into this tournament, but they won ten matches in the ICC World Cup Qualifier played earlier this year.
They also made it to the final of the recently-concluded Asia Cup, ending on a 4-2 win-loss record, with their only defeats coming to India and in similar conditions.
Overall, South Africa led Sri Lanka 45-33 in their head-to-head record.
Over the last ten meetings between these two teams, South Africa led 7-3. Interestingly, all of Sri Lanka’s wins happened at home, where the pitch and conditions aren’t too different from what could be offered in Delhi.
South Africa is coming off an impressive series win over Australia, clinching it 3-2 from 0-2 down.
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The Proteas need to adapt to the conditions in the subcontinent, which are chalk and cheese, when compared to those back at home. They are also coming off a wake-up call warm-up defeat to New Zealand.
Sri Lanka will enjoy a home-ground advantage aided by weather and pitch conditions, including slow and low bounce, heat and humidity
Both teams are dealing with injured players in their camps. South Africa is without pacers Anrich Nortje and Sisanda Magala. At the same time, Sri Lanka has been robbed of the services of key players, including leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga and frontline pacers Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Madushanka.
In the absence of Nortje’s express pace, South Africa will rely on the experience of Kagiso Rabada.
South Africa and Sri Lanka face off in their intense ICC Cricket World Cup clash at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi tomorrow at 10:30 am CAT.
On the day of the doubleheader, SA and SL kickstarted their campaign in the afternoon match with Bangladesh and Afghanistan playing in Dharamsala from 7 a.m. Central African Time (CAT).
