Sports Desk:

Both Sri Lanka and South Africa are in a similar kind of situation now. Fair to say neither Sri Lanka nor South Africa come in the T20 World Cup mission with a lot of expectation.

Since the start of 2023, South Africa have lost nine of the 11 completed T20Is they have played. Most recently, they were thrashed 3-0 by West Indies. None of those results were close.

Sri Lanka, who won the T20 World Cup ten years ago, and for several years before that were arguably the best T20 outfit on the planet, have never really got close to making the semi-final of a limited-overs global trophy since then.

They have won their last three T20I series in a row. However, those were against a Bangladesh team missing some key players, Afghanistan minus Rashid Khan, and Zimbabwe, who have not even qualified for this tournament.

But there are some exploits in franchise cricket to consider – Heinrich Klaasen clobbered 479 runs at a strike rate of 171 at the IPL, and Matheesha Pathirana took 13 wickets at an economy rate of 7.68 in the same competition. But have entire batting orders and bowling attacks vibed together for their national teams?

Sri Lanka come in with some confidence about their bowling. In Pathirana, Dilshan Madushanka and Dushmantha Chameera, they have three quicks capable of breaching 145kph, plus Nuwan Thushara, whose most recent T20I outing brought him figures of 5 for 20.

On top of this, Sri Lanka have spinners Maheesh Theekshana and captain Wanindu Hasaranga (who had recently rekindled his love for the Test format, only to be suspended for those games, dammit!).

Where Sri Lanka may lack, though, is on the big-hitting front, and here South Africa will feel they have them covered, their top order having blasted their way through last year’s ODI World Cup.

Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram and Klaasen, in particular, will back themselves to take Sri Lanka’s bowlers down.

But Sri Lanka have serious variety in their attack. And that used to be the hallmark of that great Sri Lanka T20I side of 2014. Source : ESPNCricinfo