Australia will look to get their World Cup campaign going when they take on Sri Lanka at the Ekana Sports Stadium on October 16.
Australia is set to play against Sri Lanka at the Ekana Sports Stadium in Lucknow. Both teams have a very impressive cricketing history and have made notable contributions to the field of cricket. Simultaneously, both sides have given many superstars to the game of cricket. Here is a list of players who will play an important part in this clash:
The first in the list of top players ahead of today’s clash will be our pocket-sized dynamite, David Warner. Warner has been Australia’s one of the most reliable batsmen at the top of the order. Warner had one of the most memorable debuts in international cricket. He was plucked without having played a single First-Class match and made a stunning 89 off 43 balls in a T20l against South Africa. Consequently, he made his ODI debut against the same opposition. Warne has a terrific strike rate of 96.11 with 6451 runs. The southpaw is the quickest Australian to get to 5,000 ODI runs which shows his terrific form. Now switching to the domestic circuit, Warner has been a very faithful servant of IPL over the years. David Warner led his side, Sunrisers Hyderabad to their maiden title in 2016. Naturally, his all-round batting prowess and his ability to dominate the bowlers will be detrimental for the Aussies against the Lankans. Warner has already won the World Cup once in Australia back in 2015 and will look to grab the prized trophy again after 8 years.
Contemporary batsmen shudder when they hear the name Mitchell Starc. He learned the fundamentals from the aforementioned coach, Neil D’Costa, and was able to bowl at 135 km/h by the time he was 16 years old. He finally received a Sheffield Shield debut for New South Wales at the age of 19, but only managed 2 wickets in the game, despite his impressive junior cricket performances. He took 21 wickets in 8 matches during the following Shield season, including an outstanding 5/74 against Queensland. For the brief Test series in India in late 2010, Starc, a 20-year-old backup quick bowler, was selected for the team. In his international career in 82 tests, he has 1980 runs and 333 wickets. In the 113 ODI, he had 533 runs and 223 wickets. In 58 T20 he has 58 runs & 73 wickets and in 27 IPL he has 96 runs and 34 wickets.
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The story of Steven Smith’s career redemption is one for the ages. Smith was arguably the best Test batter of his generation and perhaps of all time. There was a great deal of criticism of his early international cricket selections because he had initially gained notoriety as a potential leg-spinner who could also bat a little. Smith made his debut across formats during the domestic 2007–2008 season. He had a reputation for giving the ball a fair rip and was a powerful leg spinner. He displayed a significantly higher level of batsmanship during the 2013 England tour, along with a healthy dose of grit and mental toughness. Australia lost to eventual champions England in the 2019 World Cup semifinals, but once again, Smith stood tall amid the chaos and prevented a collapse by saving Australia. In 102 tests he has 9320 runs, in 147 ODIs he has 5119 runs and in T2Os and IPLs he has 1008 runs & 2485 runs.
A wicket-keeper batsman with an aggressive batting attitude has always been synonymous with Sri Lanka in ODIs. Everyone remembers the name of Romesh Kaluwitharana who used to open the innings with Sanath Jayasuriya 90s. Keeping on that tradition Sri Lanka has found its next wicket-keeper batsman, Kusal Mendis who can score runs at will. Recently, Mendis scored the fastest century by any Sri Lankan with 65 balls. Even against the massive score of South Africa, Mendis was not deterred to play his free-flowing stroke play. Subsequently, Kusal Mendis is seen as a promising prospect for Sri Lanka in the post-Sangakkara-Jayawardene era. Naturally, with a strike rate of 86.93 Mendis will be a very dangerous player against the likes of Starc, Cummins and Hazelwood.
Read more: ODI World Cup 2023: Kusal Mendis scores the fastest century by any Sri Lankan
After the retirement of Malinga, the world thought that the art of slinging action in fast bowling was going to rest in oblivion. However, Matheesha Pathirana gatecrashed everybody’s expectations and decided to carry forward his fellow countrymen’s legacy. But, Pathirana didn’t have a debut to remember as Sri Lanka was beaten by Afghanistan in a T20I. However, Pathirana delivered a very impressive performance for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. As a result, he was given one more chance in the ODI format to deliver for his national team. A very impressive bowler in the shortest format, Pathirana’s impressive ability to hit yorkers at the death will definitely be an asset for the Lankans in the tournament.
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