SL vs UAE Match Preview
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.
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.
Weather Report
The weather is expected to be bright and sunny with temperatures of between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius.
Pitch Report
The Queens Sports Club is one of the more difficult venues to bat on. The pitch does have a good amount of pace and bounce early on in the match, but the surface tends to slow down as the game progresses. The spinners will enjoy bowling here and will take plenty of wickets. The average first-inning score here is around 230.
Notable stats
Zahoor Khan’s Economical Bowling
Zahoor Khan has been pretty economical in his recent outings for the UAE. In his last 9 games, Khan has given away runs at just 4.89 runs per over and has also picked up 15 wickets.
Team News
There are no updates regarding injuries from either side.
SL vs UAE Probable 11
SL Playing 11
- Pathum Nissanka
- Kusal Mendis (Wk)
- Dimuth Karunaratne
- Sadeera Samarawickrama
- Charith Asalanka
- Dasun Shanaka (C)
- Wanindu Hasaranga
- Dhananjaya De Silva
- Kasun Rajitha
- Mathisha Pathirana
- Maheesh Theekshana
UAE Playing 11
- Muhammed Waseem (C)
- Aaryansh Sharma
- Vriitya Aravind (Wk)
- Rameez Shahzad
- Basil Hameed
- Rohan Mustafa
- Ali Naseer
- Zahoor Khan
- Junaid Siddiqui
- Karthik Meiyappan
- Aayan Afzal Khan
Dream11 Prediction
We are backing Sri Lanka to win here. They are a far superior team when compared to the UAE. Also, the pitch at Bulawayo can be a bit tricky to play on, especially for underdogs. However, the Sri Lankan players are pretty experienced and can adapt to the conditions better.
Top Picks
Kusal Mendis: Kusal Mendis is pretty solid for Sri Lanka in the middle order and is in good form of late. He has scored a century and a half-century in his last 4 One Day outings.
Maheesh Theekshana: Theekshana can be quite effective on the slow and turning pitch at Bulawayo. He has a penchant for picking up wickets at key intervals and is quite economical too.
Rohan Mustafa: Rohan Mustafa is one of the most reliable all-rounders on the UAE side. He has picked up 81 wickets and has also scored 1420 runs.
SL vs UAE Dream11 Team 1
Keeper: K Mendis (C), V Aravind
Batters: D Karunaratne , D Shanaka, P Nissanka
All-rounders: W Muhammad, D de Silva, R Mustafa, W Hasaranga (VC)
Bowlers: K Meiyappan, M Theekshana
