🏏ICC Men's T20I WC 2022 - Super 12 - Group 1 - SL vs IRE🏏 - Page 2

Here is the link for Vijay Bhai's Birthday thread.

Please extend your good wishes and greet him on his special day.

Because of his good efforts, we met each other here and spending great time. 😃

Link --https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/writers-corner-books-stories-and-poems/5307830/happy-birthday-vijay-bhai

After a thoroughly impressive hammering of West Indies, Ireland's challenge will be in meeting the expectations they've set by that.

Sri Lanka come in on the back of some good performances, despite the shock defeat against Namibia in the first round. Although blighted by injuries to key players, the reigning Asia Cup champions have proven that they will not be pushovers even in these conditions.

Their spin combination of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana has proved to be quite effective in the middle overs and that in-turn promises to be a big challenge for Ireland.

Having played in Hobart over the last week, Ireland will have the advantage of the familiarity of conditions. They've played two games in the day here, just as they are to play Sri Lanka, and have won them both which augurs well for the outing. However, the spin bowling that they've faced so far in the first round against Scotland, West Indies and Zimbabwe is unlike any they are set to encounter against Sri Lanka.

On boundary sizes that have been uneven, they've managed to master plans with both bat and ball by hitting the right areas. In the day games at Hobart so far, pace bowling has copped a bit of punishment with 16 wickets at an average of 41 as opposed to spin bowling that has seen 12 wickets fall but at an average of 20.75 and Economy Rate of 6.91. The catch though was that the day games so far have been predominantly played under bright sunshine, but with a bit of rain forecast for Sunday, there could be some changes to those numbers, and an additional challenge for the captains to make the right call at the toss.

Thanks for the tag

Good luck to both the teams

Pathum Nissanka is a very reliable presence for Sri Lanka at the top of the order and the right-hander is our tip for their highest run scorer in this match. Wanindu Hasaranga is one of the best spin bowlers in the world and he is well worth backing as Sri Lanka’s top wicket taker against Ireland.

Paul Stirling hit 66 not out from 48 balls to take Ireland to victory against West Indies and he is our pick for their highest run scorer against Sri Lanka. With the ball, Josh Little has four wickets in this tournament so far and the left-arm pace bowler is our recommendation for Ireland’s top wicket taker against Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka finished top of Pool A with two wins from their three games. Ireland qualified from second place in Pool B with four points.

Sri Lanka have become a far more consistent outfit over recent months but still have weaknesses as seen in their defeat to Namibia last week. However, they should have enough quality to win this game.

Ireland have responded well to their opening game defeat to Zimbabwe with wins in both must-win matches against Scotland and West Indies. They will not fear taking on Sri Lanka.

The last four games at the Bellerive Oval have seen the toss winning captain choose to bat first. We predict that both skippers will do the same if they win the toss ahead of this game.

SL vs IRE Pitch Report

In the 12 innings on this pitch during the First Round, we saw only two teams bowled out but it was never easy to bat on. We expect a par score of no higher than 155.

Weather Report

Cloudy from start to finish with the temperature no higher than 12 degrees. There is no threat of rain to interrupt this game.

Ireland does not have any left-hander in their top seven and Wanindu Hasaranga's impressive record against right-handers puts them at the negative end of the matchup. Of his 78 T20I wickets as many as 67 have been right-handers.