Sri Lanka vs West Indies 3rd ODI Preview: Lankans aim for Whitewash while WI look to savage pride
Sri Lanka vs West Indies 3rd ODI Preview: Lankans aim for Whitewash while WI look to savage pride: After two contrasting encounters between the two teams, Sri Lanka and West Indies travel to Kandy to play the inconsequential dead rubber. Pallekele international stadium at Kandy is known to have sporty wickets, wherein both the teams would look to capitalize on the conditions after two rain-affected games at Colombo.
While the Sri Lankans, after two demoralizing home losses to Pakistan and India over the past 4 months, have made an excellent comeback against West Indies; they would like to wrap the ODI series up by winning the third ODI. Whereas West Indies, who had their moments, will look to savage some pride before the T20I matches.
Sri Lanka
Everything in this series has gone in favor of the Lankans. Angelo Mathews might have let out a huge sigh of relief after sealing the series with a domineering victory in the 2nd ODI. Post some modest performance against the touring Pakistan and Indian teams, the players have pulled up their socks post the retirement of Sangakkara, who has been a pillar for the team even in the midst of crisis. While the Test series was bagged in a convincing fashion, the ODIs were more evenly contested, till Perera’s knock which completely outfoxed the West Indies team.
The batting has stood up to the challenge of playing in rain-affected conditions; adapting perfectly to what the situation demands. While Dilshan was impressive in the first ODI, Perera showcased his talent in a stroke-filled 99 in the 2nd one. Thirimanne played a crucial role in the chase in the 2nd ODI. While the middle order failed spectacularly in the chase of first ODI chase, the top order has been more consistent. This remains a cause of concern for Mathews.
The bowling has been equally better for Sri Lanka in comparison to their performances over the past 6 months. Malinga, albeit a dip in form, has started to get his yorkers in more consistently. Lakmal and Siriwardana have played their part well, and Mendis played a crucial role in Lanka’s first ODI victory. Though not perfectly good, they are doing well as a unit, and would look to build upon this for the coming years.
It will be interesting to see what sort of team combination does Mathews go with going into the dead rubber. Will he look for the kill? Or give some match practice for the bench strength?
West Indies
The Windies were handed a drubbing in the second ODI, despite some strong performances from the batting order. While Samuels and Charles were pretty impressive, the hara-kiri committed by the West Indies lower-middle order and tail-enders in the second ODI somewhat concludes as to where exactly they are going wrong. A lack of a leader and proper match-plan is something which has been going wrong in the West Indies team for a long time, and it has been further exposed by a Lankan team who are struggling for the past year.
While the batting order has been inconsistent, they can take some positives from Charles’ knock in the 2nd ODI, and Samuels’ return of form. The other batsmen are blowing hot and cold this year, and same is the scenario in this series too. While Bravo was impressive in the Tests, he failed to convert his form to the shorter formats. Andre Russel was impressive in the first ODI, only to limp off while fielding and is ruled out due to injury.
The only possible positive from the series is the return of Sunil Narine. Holder was suspended for the second ODI due to slow over rate, and will lead the team in the final ODI. The team has been plagued with troubles against the board over the past couple of years, and it has continued to affect their performances internationally. A much better performance would be expected from the West Indians in the third ODI, going into the T20I series.
Team Form (Most recent)
Sri Lanka: W W W L L
West Indies: L L W L L
Stats
0 – Number of ODIs West Indies have played at Pallekele Stadium, Kandy.
315 – Highest run scorer in ODIs between Sri Lanka and West Indies amongst current players, by Marlon Samuels. He has a high score of 63, which he scored in previous ODI.
8 – Number of wickets Narine has taken against Sri Lanka in three matches he has played against them.
327- Highest Score at Pallekele, scored by Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe in the 2011 World Cup.
83.45 – Dilshan’s average at Pallekele in ODIs. He has scored an incredible tally of 914 runs in 14 ODIs, consisting of 5 centuries and 2 fifties.
Squads
Sri Lanka Squad
Kusal Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Milinda Siriwardana, Shehan Jayasuriya, Sachithra Senanayake, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Jeffrey Vandersay
West Indies Squad
Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Jermaine Blackwood, Jonathan Carter, Jason Mohammed, Carlos Brathwaite, Jerome Taylor, Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Devendra Bishoo, Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell
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