Sri Lanka vs Netherlands in World Cup: Dutch team needs to win by a big margin, they have never defeated Sri Lanka in T20

The 38th match of the World Cup will be played between Netherlands and Sri Lanka on Monday morning at 6 am. The match will be held at Darren Sammy Cricket Ground in Gros Islet, St. Lucia. Victory in this match is very important for Netherlands. However, even a win for Netherlands will not ensure their spot in the Super-8.

With Nepal and Sri Lanka eliminated from the T20 World Cup, one spot in the Super 8s in Group D will go to either Bangladesh or the Netherlands. If Bangladesh beats Nepal in Kingstown, it will advance to the Super 8s. However, if Bangladesh loses and the Netherlands beat Sri Lanka by a big margin, the decision will depend on the net run rate (NRR). Currently, Bangladesh’s NRR is 0.478, while the Netherlands’ is -0.408.

Netherlands has never won against Sri Lanka
Netherlands has not won against Sri Lanka in T20 so far. There have been a total of 3 matches between the two teams. Out of which Netherlands has won all three. Both have always clashed in the World Cup. The last match between the two teams was in the 2022 World Cup, where Sri Lanka won by 16 runs.

Netherlands will focus on scoring big runs
Netherlands will focus on scoring runs rather than relying on big hits in their batting strategy. However, with an eye on the run rate, they may have to play big shots. Max O’Dowd and Michael Levitt will have the responsibility to open well. Michael Levitt has also scored the most runs in the last one year.

Meanwhile, the Dutch bowlers will want to repeat their good performance. Pacer Viv Kingma can do wonders for the team. Simon Englebrecht has scored 87 runs in 3 matches for this World Cup team. Whereas, Logan van Beek has the highest number of wickets in 3 matches i.e. 5.

Sri Lanka awaits victory
Sri Lanka did not win any of the 3 matches played in its group. It lost 2 matches. While one match was washed out due to rain. The team will be waiting for victory. The team’s bowling attack is variational, which is better.

Kusal Mendis took the most wickets for the team in the last 12 months. Whereas, captain Wanindu Hasaranga has the most wickets to his name.

Weather report – 40 percent chance of rain
The match will be played in the evening in West Indies. The temperature in the evening will be around 28 degrees, winds will blow and the weather will be hot, it will be cloudy and there is a 40 percent chance of rain.

Pitch Report
So far 36 T20 matches have been played on this ground, out of which 15 matches have been won by the team batting first and 21 matches have been won by the team batting later. On Sunday, Scotland scored 180 runs on this pitch. Whereas, Australia scored 186 runs. The pitch is high scoring, which will support the batsmen.

Possible Playing XI
Netherlands: Scott Edwards (captain), Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Bas de Leede, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren and Vivian Kingma.

Sri Lanka: Wanindu Hasaranga (captain)Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Maheesh Theekshana, Mathesh Pathirana and Nuwan Thushara.