Sri Lanka fail to seal a berth in ICC World Cup 2019

Sri Lanka suffered yet another loss at the hands of India on Thursday and have failed to seal a direct qualification for the 2019 ICC World Cup. They needed to win at least two matches in this series as these are the only limited overs matches they are scheduled to play before the cut-off date of 30th September 2017. Now the Island nation needs to depend on the result of the ODI series between England and West Indies.

Sri Lanka cricket is not coming out of the rut they are in at the moment and now is fearing of playing the qualifiers to play in the forthcoming World Cup. The 50-over pinnacle event will take place from May 30 to June 15 in the United Kingdom. The top seven teams apart from England will qualify directly for the mega event.

Qualification scenarios

With Sri Lanka on the verge of getting whitewashed to India, West Indies now have a golden chance to seal their place, though it won’t be easy for them to do that. The Caribbean team is set to play 5-match ODI series starting from 19th September.

1. If Sri Lanka wins the last ODI against India and if Windies lose any ODI against England (out of 5) or the one-off against Ireland, then Sri Lanka will qualify directly.
2. If Sri Lanka loses the last ODI against India and if Windies manage to win the series against England by 4-1 and win their one-off ODI against Ireland, then Windies will qualify for the event.
3. If Sri Lanka loses the last ODI against India and if Windies lose more than one ODI against England and Ireland, then Sri Lanka will make it to the 2019 World Cup.

The odds are still in favor of Sri Lanka as it will be tough for West Indies to compete against England at home. But funny things happen in cricket as Windies and Bangladesh shocked the Ashes rivals earlier this week in Tests. Moreover, West Indies team have been bolstered by the inclusion of Gayle and Samuels in the squad. Sri Lanka could not seal the spot which was in their hands and now have to depend on other results to go their way.