T20 World Cup: West Indies opts to field vs Sri Lanka

The West Indies cricket team faces Sri Lanka in an ICC men’s T20 World Cup Super 12 group 1 match at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, on Thursday night. As for the West Indies, they will be aiming to keep their slim chances of making it to the semis alive.

Kieron Pollard, winning the toss, invited Sri Lanka to bat. “We are going to bowl first. That has been the nature of the competition. Expect a bit of dew here,” Pollard said at the toss.

“For us, it’s important to win a cricket match. As a team, hopefully, we can bowl well. I had a couple of days off, worked with the physio. We are playing the same team. We have not batted well, have another opportunity to put it right,” Pollard further added.

Losing the toss, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said: “We have played three games here, the wickets have flattened now. We tried our best. Our batting hasn’t delivered. If it had clicked, we could have made it to the semis. Kumara is out, Binura Fernando is in. He creates the angle away from the right-handers.”

Playing XI (from):

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera(w), Charith Asalanka, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Binura Fernando

West Indies (Playing XI): Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Roston Chase, Nicholas Pooran(w), Kieron Pollard(c), Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Ravi Rampaul

In the head-to-head contest, both teams have met each other 7 times. Sri Lanka have won 5 of the 7 encounters between the two in T20 World Cups. However, the West Indies have 4-1 tally in the format since the last edition of the event in 2016.

Stat attack

– Dwayne Bravo, with 224 runs and 14 wickets, is West Indies’ leading run-getter and wicket-taker vs Sri Lanka in T20Is.