England is stepping on the gas after hammering Australia by 8 wickets with 50 balls to spare.
England is currently having their peak in T20Is with all sorts of weapons available in their arsenal. Opener Jos Buttler and Jason Roy are in magnificent form with the bat. Even though the middle order isn’t yet tested, but Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone and Chris Woakes with their recent IPL form, this team can bring on hell on any opponent of the world.
Chris Woakes, Tymal Mills and Adil Rashid are leading their bowling attack accompanied by Livingstone and Jordan for filling the overs. Moeen Ali is being wasted given that he is being used as a lower middle-order batter and a part-time bowler.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka started their World Cup campaign with an impressive win beating Bangladesh. They shouldn’t have lost to South Africa given that they were in charge for most parts of the match.
Charith Asalanka is the man in form who scored a magnificent 80 against Bangladesh and took the match home. Wanindu Hasanranga and MaheshTheekshana have been fabulous with their leg-spin and mystery spin respectively.
Hasaranga has contributed with both bat and ball and helped the team the most in this campaign. Lahiru Kumara is one aggressive pacer to look out for. If the Lankan lions can get runs on board with Kusal Perera and Pathum Nissanka clicking, they can give England a tough time out there.
Both teams are expected to come with an unchanged playing XI, although there is a slight chance of Mark Wood coming in England XI replacing Jordan.
Expected XI:
England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Tymal Mills
Srilanka: Kusal Perera (wk), PethumNissanka, CharithAsalanka, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapakse, WaninduHasaranga, DasunShanaka (c), Chamika Karunaratne, DushmanthaChameera, MaheeshTheekshana, Lahiru Kumara.
Pitch: Sharjah pitches have already been overused during the IPL phase. Playing spin is already tough on this surface. But seamers might get some help due to the uneven bounce of the pitch.
