Sri Lanka v West Indies 2nd T20I preview: Sri Lanka determined to prove their dominance

Sri Lanka v West Indies 2nd T20I preview: Sri Lanka determined to prove their dominance: The first T20I between Sri Lanka and West Indies was a high scoring contest which Sri Lanka won comfortably. Sri Lanka proved once again that why they are the top-ranked T20 side in the world. West Indies would have expected some better performances from their bowlers as they were thrashed mercilessly by Lanka batsmen.

Sri Lanka has had a very positive series so far while West Indies are still searching for their first win on the tour. And, this happens to be their last chance for them to do so. They have never looked threatening at all throughout the series.

Sri Lanka

Openers Dilshan and Perera blasted the Windies bowlers while Dinesh Chandimal and Matthews launched some late assault to ensure that Sri Lanka posted a 200+ total on the scoreboard.

Sri Lanka have nothing to worry about their batting. They displayed complete dominance over West Indies bowlers last match. The openers have given good starts and the middle order has complimented them perfectly, capitalising in the starts and taking forward the team total to a big score.

Bowling wise for Sri Lanka, everything clicked in the right way in the previous match. Their bowlers, especially spinners-Senanayake (4 wickets), Siriwardane (2 wickets) and Shehan Jayasuriya (1 wickets) did not let the Windies batsmen settle down at any point of the game. They will try to continue performing the same way in the upcoming match.

West Indies

West Indies fought really well in the last match but fell short by 30 runs in the end. The batsmen tried their best to chase down the mammoth total posted by Sri Lanka.

Their bowling happens to be their main cause of worry fro them. The bowlers were tonked by the Lankan batsmen all over the ground in the last match. Except for Sunil Narine, no other bowler had any impact on the Lankan batsmen. All of them conceded runs at a rate of above 10. The bowlers need to find a way to curb the onslaught by openers Dilshan and Kusal Perera. It was this duo who took the game away from Windies from the very first over.

The batsmen did a relatively better job than the bowlers. Andre Fletcher was the standout performer with the bat in the first T20I. West Indies would have had a real chance of chasing the target if the middle order would have showed some composed approach while batting. A lot would depend on Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard from batting’s point of view, who got dismissed at crucial moments during their chase. Their presence would surely made a huge impact.

West Indies are 0-1 down and must regroup themselves for some positive results. After the first match, it can be evidently seen that Lankan batsmen have liked to dominate over them. So, the key would be to bowl with more discipline so that their batsmen don’t have to chase mountain of runs.

Pitch & conditions

The match is scheduled to be played in the R. Premadasa stadium at Colombo. The fixture is a D/N game. The pitch conditions at R. Premadasa is traditionally flat and slow which will have plenty of scoring opportunity for the batsmen and will assist spinners as the evening progresses. The chasing team has always enjoyed the conditions here. The weather will be cool and cloudy.

Squads:

Sri Lanka: Lasith Malinga (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Shehan Jayasuriya, Angelo Mathews, Milinda Siriwardana, Chamara Kapugedera, Dinesh Chandimal, Kithuruwan Vithanage, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachithra Senanayake, Jeffrey Vandersay, Binura Fernando, Thisara Perera

West Indies: Darren Sammy (c), Devendra Bishoo, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Jonathan Carter, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher (wk), Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor.