World Cup 2019, Match 20: Sri Lanka vs Australia Match Prediction - Who will win today's match?
The finalists of the 2007 ICC World Cup, Australia and Sri Lanka will lock horns with each other today at the Kia Oval in London. Sri Lanka's last two matches were washed out by rain which has helped them stay in the top 5 of the points table, while Australia are high on confidence after a close win against Pakistan.
These two teams had battled it out in the warm-up stage of the 2019 World Cup where the defending champions cruised past Dimuth Karunaratne's men. So who will win the intercontinental battle at the Oval?
With the conditions in England being overcast, both Karunaratne and Aaron Finch would love to bowl first. The fast bowlers are expected to dominate the first half of the match, hence the toss will have a huge impact on today's result.
If Australia win the toss and choose to bowl first, Sri Lanka will have to put up at least 250-260 on the board to give their bowlers a chance against the experienced Aussie batsmen. As Karunaratne mentioned in the pre-match interview, his team's batting order is not As consistent as India's, which means all the batsmen will have to contribute their bit to the team's total.
The onus of doing the heavy lifting in the lineup will be on Kusal Perera, Angelo Mathews and Karunaratne himself.
However, the chances that they will survive against the duo of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins aren't too great. The Lankan Lions will have to put on their best batting performance of the year to post a defendable score on the board.
In case Sri Lanka bowl first, the trio of Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Pradeep and Isuru Udana will have to ensure that the defending champions do not exceed the 250-run mark. As mentioned above, batting is the weak link of Sri Lanka, hence the bowlers will have to bowl with accuracy today.
Mohammad Amir showed how to trouble the Aussies the other day and the Sri Lankan pacers need to take a close look at the way the Pakistani bowled.
Australia have one of the most reliable batting orders in world cricket, and it will take a special effort from Sri Lanka to stop them from scoring a 300+ total today.
Whether the coin falls in Finch's favor or not, his team has the caliber to win the match against Sri Lanka on any day. Hence, they are the outright favorites to add 2 more points to their tally at the Oval.
Today's match prediction - Australia wins
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