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Sri Lanka vs Australia, 4th ODI: Lankan’s likely XI

The visitors Australia have the advantage in as they get into this match, both psychologically and statistically, winning two of three matches they have played so far in the series.

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Sri Lanka are lagging behind by 1-2 in the series © Getty Images
Sri Lanka are lagging behind by 1-2 in the series © Getty Images

It is Sri Lanka‘s chance to keep their hopes alive of winning the One-Day International (ODI) series against Australia at home as the two teams engage in the fourth ODI of the five-match series. Scheduled to be played at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, this will also be Australia’s chance to win the ODI series after a shameful 3-0 end to their Test journey in the Lankan land. The visitors Australia have the advantage in as they get into this match, both psychologically and statistically, winning two of three matches they have played so far in the series. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Australia vs Sri Lanka, 4th ODI at Dambulla

Having played the last match at the same venue, both the teams have a good share of experience of the pitch and conditions and it will be easier for them to get their strategies set accordingly. Though Sri Lanka have lost two matches, the contest have been neck-to-neck and had every possibility to win the match. As the match is about to take place, here is the likely XI for the hosts.

Top-order: The biggest job for skipper Angelo Mathews heading to the fourth ODI will be replacing Tillakaratne Dilshan. The Sri Lanka legend, who scored more than 10,000 runs in his ODI career, will be a difficult name to replace, for he is not only a potent batsman, but also a bowler and a reliable fielder. They have Danushka Gunathilaka at the top, who have not performed in the last few matches at all and will have to provide a positive and run-fetching start to the hosts. In place of Dilshan, Sri Lanka can opt for Kusal Mendis as their opener. Kusal is enjoying a great time of his career right now, with a lot of runs coming off his bat. With Kusal pushed to open, Dinesh Chandimal has to come one place up and take bat at No. 3.

Chandimal is one of the finest finds of Sri Lanka and the pillar of Sri Lanka batting. The cricketer has experience and utilises that, which improved his batting remarkably in the past few years. The batsman played a knock of a stand-out 102 in the last ODI and will be expected to replicate the performance.

Middle-order: With Chandimal coming out at No. 3, the responsibility of keeping the innings post the top three comes entirely upon skipper Angelo Mathews’ shoulders. Mathews needs to make his experience count and perform well, for the batting will need a serious boost of runs with Dilshan not being there. Following Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva comes out to continue the batting. Dhananjaya has displayed good cricket in the limited chances that he has got and has emerged as a key player. Kusal Perera will be the other name to take care of the middle-order batting. After him, Sri Lanka can include Milinda Siriwardana to the eleven, to add both batting and bowling to the side. For the hard-hitting that Sri Lanka might need towards the end of their batting innings, Thisara Perera come out after Siriwanda. There will also be Dilruwan Perera who is capable of scoring good runs down the order.

Bowlers: In this series, Sri Lanka have found many talented bowlers and Amila Aponso is another of them. Aponso will be Sri Lanka’s biggest bet in bowling, looking at Australia’s weakness to face spin. The bowler has performed well since his debut and will be expected to produce turns to get wickets. With him will be Dilruwan Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva that strengthens the spin department. However, Sri Lanka can use Siriwardana as their secret part time option to surprise the touring party. Siriwardana had done well with the ball in the England series and can be expected to do even better, given the fact that  The pace-attack will be highly dependent upon skipper Mathews and Seekuge Prasanna, the only specialist pacer in the line-up. Thisara Perera will be another name in the attack.

Sri Lanka’s likely XI for the fourth ODI: Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Thisara Perera, Dilruwan Perera, Seekuge Prasanna, Amila Aponso.

(Paulami Chakraborty, a singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)

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