South Africa vs Sri Lanka, Second ODI: Preview and Predicted Playing XI
A change of format brought a change of fortunes for South Africa as they stunned the hosts in the opening fixture by five wickets and took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Sri Lanka will now look to bounce back when they face the visitors in the second ODI at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Dambulla on Wednesday, August 1.
Both sides have now played 66 ODIs against each other. Proteas have won 36 of those, while Lankans have won 29 with one of the matches resulting in a tie.
South Africa: The five-wicket win in the first game at Dambulla was South Africa's second win in the seven ODIs they have played so far this year. The Proteas were brilliant with the ball on the previous occasion, dismissing Sri Lanka for a paltry 193 before their batsmen knocked off those runs with 19 overs to spare.
With the bat, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy starred on Sunday. Both Kock and Plessis scored 47 runs of 59 and 56 balls respectively. While Duminy looked solid in his quick-fire 32 ball 53 to get the Proteas to winning line in 31 overs and the team will want these three to fire once again.
With the ball, Kagiso Rabada and Tabraiz Shamsi troubled the Sri Lankan batsmen the other day and they are likely to trouble them again, especially with the new ball. Rabada took a four-fer and he now has 79 wickets in 49 ODI. While the left-arm chinaman Shamsi was the pick of the bowlers with outstanding figures of 4 for 33. Except these two the visitors will also bank on Lungi Ngidi to slow down the runrate as he was exceptional with the ball in test series.
Expected Playing XI: Faf du Plessis (c), Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Willem Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi, Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram.
Sri Lanka: The Lankans failed to transfer their ruthlessness from the tests into the ODIs and suffered a big defeat in the opening game of the series and they have now lost their last six ODIs at this ground.
With the bat, Kusal Perera and Thisara Parents were the only bright spot in Sri Lanka's batting in the first ODI, Both scoring 81 runs off 72 balls and 49 runs of 30 balls respectively. While Upul Tharanga and Angelo Mathews are among the leading run-getters for Sri Lanka in the 50-overs format and the team will be expecting strong contributions from them.
With the ball, Thisara Perera and Suranga Lakmal have done well for their side in this format and these two are going to be the main weapons for the skipper when it comes to pace bowling. While The spin department relies mainly on off-spinner Akila Dananjaya, who claimed a three-wicket haul last time and he could again create a few problems for the visitors on this surface.
Expected Playing XI: Angelo Mathews (C), Shehan Jayasuriya, Thisara Perera, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, Lakshan Sandakan, Lahiru Kumara, Niroshan Dickwella, Upul Tharanga, Kusal Mendis and Kusal Perera.