2015 ICC World Cup, Sri Lanka vs New Zealand: 5 things to look forward to

The curtain raiser of the World Cup is going to be played between two similar countries. New Zealand and Sri Lanka are both cricket and rugby crazy nations, besides being two of the most underrated cricket teams in the world.The two sides have played each other in a 7-match ODI series very recently and everything about what to expect is completely known, with a victory for New Zealand being highly likely.Here are 5 things to look forward to in the upcoming battle: 

#1 Lasith Malingas return

Lasith Malinga will be coming back to competitive cricket after a long injury lay-off, and it will be interesting to see if he can assist Sri Lanka’s ailing bowling unit in arresting their slide.

Though he bowled without any discernible discomfort in the two warm-up games, his radar was wayward with him finding it difficult to land his yorkers accurately. 

According to a Sri Lankan cricket website, Russel Arnold has said that Malinga still has pain in his ankle, but Malinga’s resoluteness to play what would be his final World Cup, which flies in the face of pain, should inspire Sri Lanka.

The Lankan bowling has been awful at the death in recent times, leaking plenty of runs and the slinger’s return should go a long way towards stemming it. Should Malinga bowl with his usual menace, it could define Sri Lanka’s journey in this World Cup.