Namibia will look to extend their meteoric rise in the cricket world when they face Sri Lanka, who will be full of confidence after their Asian Cup win last month. Round one starts with a bang as the first of 45 games will pit Group A favorites, Sri Lanka, against Namibia, a team with solid ambitions to make it to the Super 12 stage. The two teams will face each other for the second time on Sunday in an important competition.
In the previous T20 World Cup, Namibia and Sri Lanka were in the same group and faced each other in their first match. Gerhard Erasmus and his team will not fondly remember this match because Sri Lanka completely overwhelmed them; Namibia was bowled out for 96, and the Lankans finished the chase with seven wickets and more than six overs left.
However, Namibia performed bravely in their remaining matches, beating Ireland and the Netherlands to reach the Super 12, where they also defeated Scotland. Since then, the team has gained confidence and experience, which was evident when they put in a polished performance earlier this week to beat Ireland in the mega event warm-up game. Namibia is hoping for an even stronger performance this time around, and they want to beat the Lankans to kick off their journey.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka, which just emerged as the champion of Asia by beating teams like India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh on their way to the Asian Cup title, has a strong reputation to uphold by participating to this competition.
That win, which included five consecutive wins, ended a troubling streak of achievements since the last T20 World Cup campaign. Before Sri Lanka won the Asian Cup this year, they had lost nine of their first ten Twenty20 caps.
The Lankans have also brought their excellent form to Australia as evidenced by their outstanding performance against Zimbabwe in the exhibition game. With the help of batsmen like Kusal Mendis and Wanindu Hasaranga, Dasun Shanaka’s team won the game by 33 points. Now when they play Namibia they will try to continue this momentum.
Namibian selection: Gerhard Erasmus (c), JJ Smit, Divan la Cock, Stephen Baard, Nicol Loftie Eaton, Jan Frylinck, David Wiese, Ruben Trumpelmann, Zane Green, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni, Michael van Lingen, Ben Shikongo, Karl Birkenstock , Lohan Louwrens, Helao Ya France.
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera (subject to eligibility), eligibility reservation), Dilshan Madushanka, Pramod Madushan.
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Standby players: Ashen Bandara, Praveen Jayawickrema, Dinesh Chandimal, Binura Fernando, Nuwanidu Fernando.
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