WT20 | SL vs IRE | Preview & Prediction

After an exciting round of qualifiers we have entered in to the super 12s with Sri Lanka and Ireland in Group A, Zimbabwe and Netherlands in Group B.

Sri Lanka will lock horns with Ireland in match no. 15 at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. The Asian Champions suffered a shock defeat in their opening encounter against Namibia and were in a tight position against UAE and NED. Lanka's stay down under has been marred by injuries just like it was earlier this year in February. So far they have lost their ace bowlers Dilshan Madhushanka and Dushmantha Chameera to injuries. Danushka Gunathalika too has been ruled out of the tournament. Sri Lanka's biggest strength in the batting department is their skipper Dasun Shanaka who has been one of the best finishers in the format this year. Since the neginning of 2022, he has scored 456 runs at a SR of 142. Bhanuka Rajapaksa caught everyone's eye during the IPL and played a lions share in helping SL clinch the Asia cup title. He scored 191 runs batting at 5/6 at a SR of 149 and chipped in with crucial cameos in almost every game.

In the bowling department their success will mainly lie on Hasaranga and Theekshana. Hasaranga created a record by picking most wickets in the middle overs by a spinner in a season while playing for RCB and is one of the best bowlers in T20s currently. His trajectory and bowling height makes it difficult for the batters to read him. Theekshana bowls crucial overs in the Powerplay and was one of the main reasons for CSK's turn around in the 2nd half.

Ireland have some exciting names. Paul Stirling, Curtis Camphor, Josh Little, Andy Balbarine, Gareth Delany. They have grown leaps and bounds as a LOI unit but haven't translated that success in T20is as they have done it in the 50 over format. In the past 2 years, they have won an ODI in ENG, drew 1-1 against SA and won 2-1 against West Indies. In T20Is, they were out of super 12 stage in WC2021, later lost to USA and UAE.
This time around they lost the opening encounter by 31 runs against ZIM but soon turned things around in next 2 games by chasing an improbable target against Scotland thanks to a lone effort by Camphor and Dockrell and then knocked out WI by 9 wickets.

Curtis Camphor is a fine all rounder, he his best remembered for his feat of taking 4 wickets in 4 balls against NED in the T20 World Cup. He is a former SA U-19 player. Mark Adair is a tall seam bowler, he has taken 75 wickets at an impressive economy of 7.6 and he is the 2nd quickest player to 50 T20i wickets. Craig Young is an another exciting bowler. He recently got to 50 T20I wickets. Ireland had a big season against India, NZ, SA and AFG at home this year and that has worked wonders for them.

Probable XI

Sri Lanka: Kusal Mendis, Bandara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Asalanka, Rajapaksa, Shanaka, Hasaranga, Karunaratne, Binura Fernando, Kumara, Theekshana

Ireland: Stirling, Balbirnie, Tucker, Tector, Campher, Dockerell, Delany, Adair, Simi Singh, McCarthy, Josh Little

Head to Head
Sri Lanka leads 2-0 in T20Is

Pitch & Conditions
Good batting wicket with some chance of rain.

Recent Form (last 5 T20I innings)

Fantasy XI
>Core Team: Kusal Mendis, Hasaranga, Campher, Dhananjaya, Tucker