PAK vs SL 5th Super Four Match Prediction

PAK vs SL Team Previews

Pakistan

Pakistan have been clinical in their performance throughout this tournament. However, a massive defeat against arch-rivals India would have let some anxiety set in as they look to book a spot in the finals.

It was a poor batting effort from the men in green as they were bundled out for a mere 128 runs on a pitch where the Indians posted a massive 356. The openers have been disappointing, to say the least. Fakhar Zaman is averaging just over 20 runs in this tournament while barring the half-century against Bangladesh, Imam Ul-Haq too hasn’t been able to get going. There is some talk that Fakhar Zaman may be dropped for this match.

If that happens, Saud Shakeel might come into the middle order and Mohammad Rizwan will move to the opening slot.

The story goes on in the middle order too, as Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Iftikhar Ahmed have failed to bat consistently. The pace attack has been a highlight of Pakistan’s performance and all 3 seamers, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Naseem Shah have bowled well. While they were taken for runs against India, we expect them to bounce back.

Injuries will force Pakistan to make one or maybe two changes to their lineup. Mohammad Wasim Jr. and Shahnawaz Dahani may both be playing this match.

The spin attack does seem to be a bit lacking though as Shadab Khan is the only full-time spinner on the team. Looking at the nature of the pitch in the previous match, someone like Mohammad Nawaz or Usama Mir could be picked to bolster this part of the bowling unit also.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's incredible 13-match winning streak was finally broken on Tuesday as they faced a 41-run defeat against India. The team is now second on the points table, leading Pakistan in the NRR. However, that will count for nothing, because if Sri Lanka loses here, they will get eliminated.

There are plenty of learnings for the home team from the last match. They will need to work a lot on their batting if they want to get back to winning ways. The poor run of Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne has been a problem for Sri Lanka in this tournament.

They have had just one 50+ partnership in the 4 matches so far. This has put the middle order under stress and can cause them to crumble under pressure like they did against India. Sadeera Samarawickrama and Kusal Mendis have been the top performers with the bat so far and will once again hold the key during the middle overs.

Dhananjaya de Silva finally managed to get some runs under his belt but the form of Dasun Shanaka remains a concern. Coming to the bowling, the spinners were brilliant in the last match, picking up all the 10 wickets in the match against India.

If the pitch is similar to what we saw against India, then Sri Lanka has a real chance of beating Pakistan. 

Dunith Wellalage and Charith Asalanka have been spot-on during the middle overs, while Kasun Rajitha and Matheesha Pathirana will feature in the pace attack. The pace bowling unit for Sri Lanka is really weak and could be its undoing.