SL vs UAE 3rd Match - Group B Prediction

SL vs UAE Team Previews

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has no one else but themselves to blame as they failed to gain a straight entry to the 2023 ODI World Cup. They seemed to have taken the Super League matches too lightly, and managed to win just 7 of the 24 matches they played in this cycle. Also, they were repeatedly penalized for slow over-rates. As a result, they finished in a disappointing 10th place on the table.

However, the team will be looking to put those failings behind them and focus on the task at hand. The team will be feeling quite confident as it heads into this contest on the back of 4 consecutive ODI wins. Two of those wins came at home as they clinched the series against Afghanistan, while the last 2 came in Zimbabwe in the warm-up games against Netherlands and USA.

Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne are likely to open the proceedings with the bat. Karunaratne was in excellent touch during the match against the USA, scoring 111 runs before retiring. He was supported well by Kusal Mendis, who scored a century of his own as the duo put up a 190-run partnership.

Sri Lanka has a strong middle order made up of the likes of Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, and Dhananjaya de Silva. All-rounders Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga add depth to the batting.

Matheesha Pathirana will lead the pace attack for Sri Lanka here. He had an excellent outing in the recently concluded IPL. He will be supported by Dushmantha Chameera and Kasun Rajitha.

Maheesh Theekshana will take care of the spin duties along with Hasaranga and de Silva. 

United Arab Emirates

UAE had to take a very long route to reach the qualifiers. The team suffered a terrible run towards the end of League 2 and finished 6th on the points table and had to go into the Qualifier playoffs. However, a strong show there, especially by the batsmen, saw them win 4 of the 5 matches in the Qualifier playoffs and book a ticket to Zimbabwe.

The batsmen will once again hold the key for the UAE here. Skipper Muhammad Waseem, Vriitya Aravind, and Asif Khan have been in good form during the lead-up to this tournament and will once again play an important role here.

The team management has let go of some experienced campaigners including Chirag Suri, CP Rizwan, and Kashif Daud, and instead has decided to bring in some fresh talent in the form of Sanchit Sharma, Ali Naseer, Aaryansh Sharma, and Eathan D’Souza. Ali Naseer has been a particularly impressive find, thanks to his all-round abilities and he will join the likes of Rohan Mustafa and Basil Hameed in the middle order.

Zahoor Khan and Junaid Siddiqui are the two experienced seamers on the squad. They will be joined by Sanchit Sharma and Muhammad Jawadullah. Karthik Meiyappan will take up the spin duties and will be assisted by all-rounders including Aayan Afzal Khan.